Chief Minister, Dr. Pramod Sawant reiterated Government’s commitment to put in place the appropriate Preparedness and Mitigation Measures for a Disaster Resilient Goa to ensure safety and security of people while deliberating at a meeting of Goa State Disaster Management Authorities, along with Revenue Minister Shri Atanasio Monserrate who is also the Vice Chairperson of Goa SDMA and other members of Goa SDMA; DDMAs and all Line Departments, at Secretariat today.
The Annual SDMA meeting is aimed to review the Preparedness Measures undertaken by SDMA, DDMAS and Departmental Level as the monsoon season is approaching.
Chief Minister said that Goa being a Coastal State, it is vulnerable to both natural as well as human induced disasters and stressed the need to take precautions and early preparedness which will go a long way to tackle any disaster.
The Chief Minister maintained that we cannot predict disaster, as it is not in our hands. But, if we prepare to face eventualities, taking into account the possibility of disaster it will help to save loss of lives and property. He recalled that in the recent past Goa faced extreme events like Cyclone Tauktae and Floods in 2021 and other major fire incidents of industrial unit which we could manage effectively only with our preparedness to handle such eventualities. Keeping in mind the Disaster Vulnerability the Chief Minister said we have to be alert and called for proper coordination and cooperation among all line departments in discharge of their responsibility.
The Chief Minister also sought active cooperation of the public without which the purpose of disaster management would not be served and directed the State Disaster Management Authority to register those people who are voluntarily willing to work with SDMA. He also instructed the authorities of Fire and Emergency Services to employ the trained Aapda Mitr and Aapda Sakhies to be deputed regularly so as to utilise their services during emergency. The Health department should take proper measures to arrest the outbreak of vector borne diseases during monsoon. The SACHET natural Disaster Alert Portal will be useful in providing information to the public about disaster management activity, he added.
Revenue Minister Shri Atanasio Monserrate urged the authorities to be alert and be prepared to face any calamity and no blame game would be tolerated. He appreciated the presence of the Chief Minister and other stakeholders for serving the purpose of the preparations required by SDMA and DDMAs and Line departments during this Monsoon season. The Government has notified the Incident Response System at State and District Level, Local Contingency Plan for Mass Rescue Operation at Sea and also completed the Annual Communication Plans and release of important documents is an initiative of the Government towards Preparedness and Mitigation Measures for safe Goa he informed.
Chief Secretary Shri Puneet Kumar Goel IAS; Secretary Revenue Shri Sandip Jacques IAS; Secretary Revenue Shri Sandip Jacques IAS; Collector North Goa, Smt. Mamu Hage IAS; Director, Department of Information & Publicity, Shri Dipak Bandekar; Chief Engineer WRD Shri Pramod Badami; District Operation & Plan Officer Coast Guard, Cmdt. Ashish Khosla; Chief Engineer PWD; HoDs of other line Departments, Officials of National Disaster Rescue Force were among those who attended the meeting.
