Bhubaneswar, July 30 (SocialNews.XYZ) Amid the flood situation in several districts across Odisha, various state government departments, including Revenue and Disaster Management, Water Resources, Health and Family Welfare, Energy, and Works, have stepped up efforts to tackle the impact of the floods, including rescue and relief operations, restoration of road connectivity and power supply, and assistance to affected residents.
On Thursday, the Odisha Water Resources Department in an official statement said that all its officers and staff are actively engaged in field operations, with additional officers deployed to vulnerable locations for continuous surveillance and prompt response.
Senior field engineers are maintaining constant vigil over embankments, river systems and other critical flood management structures.
The department also informed that to further strengthen the preparedness mechanism, field engineers, including Superintending Engineers (SEs) and Executive Engineers (EEs) of the Minor Irrigation (MI), Mega Lift Irrigation, Quality Assurance (QA), and Survey and Investigation (S&I) wings are in the districts of Kataka, Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur and Puri have been kept in full readiness and are prepared to move to the field at short notice, wherever required.
Highlighting these on-ground efforts, the department noted that the Chief Engineer of the Mahanadi, Brahmani, and Baitarani Basin System (MBBS) recently visited the OAE-9B overflow section of the Kharsuan river near the Mahadev Temple in Aali Block to review the prevailing situation.
"The overflowing section was successfully closed using sandbags to control the flow of water. All field-level officers are directed to vigil over the situation and take immediate preventive measures wherever necessary," the department said.
Meanwhile, the Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) department has also intensified emergency measures to tackle the flood and waterlogging situation caused by heavy rainfall, particularly in North Odisha and districts such as Balasore, Bhadrak and Jajpur, etc.
The Department is giving top priority to public safety, rapid drainage of water and relief measures in urban areas.
H&UD Minister Krushna Chandra Mahapatra said, "All concerned officers have been directed to remain on high alert and ensure round-the-clock monitoring of the situation. The leave of all officers and employees engaged in flood management has been cancelled, and a 24-hour departmental control room is closely monitoring developments and coordinating immediate response wherever required."
Emphasising the need for a long-term solution, the Minister announced that the state government will prepare a 'Strong Drainage Master Plan' for all Urban Local Bodies to address the recurring problem of urban waterlogging.
Similarly, the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), district administrations, ODRAF and other rescue teams are carrying out coordinated operations to ensure the safety of the affected people in the flood-hit areas.
Notably, the latest government status report reveals that floods have impacted 18 districts of Odisha, affecting 95 blocks, 472 Gram Panchayats, and 1,301 villages, 14 Urban Local bodies.
A total of 5,93,083 people has been hit by the calamity, with 176,518 evacuated to safer places.
Source: IANS
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