Tamil Nadu on High Alert for Rains and Landslides in Hilly Regions

 Chennai: The Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) team of the Indian Army has started search operations with the help of dog squads in the flood ravaged Wayanad district of Kerala even as the Tamil Nadu government instructed its authorities to keep a close vigil in the villages along the Western Ghats to prevent landslides.

The HADR contingent has formed 10 teams, each with 30 members drawn from the Armed Forces and the Police, to launch the search operations in six zone, identified by them as Punchirimattom, Mundekkai, School area, Chooralmala town, Village area and Downstream, a Defence press release said on Friday.

In Tamil Nadu, the district administrations have been told to closely watch the hilly regions during the rains and the revenue, disaster management departments to be alert to prevent any disasters in the districts of Dindigul, Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli, Virudhunagar, Theni and Tiruppur districts, an official press release said.

State Minister for PWD, Highways and Minor Ports, E V Velu, chaired a review meeting ahead of the onset of the rains in the State and told the engineers and staff to inspect the roads and bridges and undertake renovation work wherever it was required.

He wanted the officials to ensure that the storm water drains were cleared of all blocks and free to allow smooth passage of water through them. If waterlogging happened on the roads, they should be cleared expeditiously with a view to not inconveniencing the members of the public, he said.

Referring to the ‘Namma Salai’ (Our Roads) app, which has been newly launched by the government, he wanted the officials to make the roads clear of potholes and craters to help people travel safely through the roads.

Urging the engineers and staff to undertake road safety work like road markings and also expedite the renovation of roads in the Chennai and Tirunelveli regions that were devastated by floods, he underlined the need of painting black and white marking on the trunks of roadside trees and speed breakers quickly to prevent accidents.

Also he wanted the trees and branches on the roadside to be cleared and lampposts and transformers on the side of roads marked for expansion to be shifted. Laying stress on quality control, he told the engineers to not clear the bills of contractors until quality control certificates were obtained for the work undertaken by them