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The Hindu - Kerala 01.08.2009

Need for disaster management plan

The flooding and other calamities that befell Kozhikode during the heavy rain in July call for a disaster management plan for the district.

Although the Centre had enacted the Disaster Management Act in 2005 and asked the State governments to set up disaster management units, only a few have done so.

The Kerala government entrusted preparation of disaster management plans to the district administrations in January 2009. People believe that casualties and damage to property can be minimised with such a plan.

After having experienced flooding year after year, the district administration is now in the process of formulating a district disaster management plan.

The Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development (STED) Project has been entrusted with the task.

It has drafted a proposal by making a geo-demographical profile detailing housing patterns, roads, means of transport, hospitals and government and private services available in the district.

In consultation with various departments, including that of geology, the project officials will record the hazards the district had witnessed.

They will do an analysis of the worst cases and find the areas vulnerable to natural calamities.

Such steps will help the district administration take preventive measures, says Mohanan Manalil, project director.

There will be a non-structural disaster mitigation plan focussing on preparedness methodology, awareness campaign, disaster recovery inventory and enforcing existing codes and laws. The structural mitigation measures include retrofitting and earthquake-resistant constructions, he says.

The management plan will concentrate on short- and long-term responses. The short-term plan centres on rescue operations, relief operations and rehabilitation, while the long-term plan emphasises action plans for the departments of Police, Fire and Rescue Services, Revenue, Irrigation, Education, Health Service, Food and Civil Supplies, Transport and Public Works, the Kerala State Electricity Board, the Red Cross, the National Cadet Corps and the Scouts.

The Hindu - Karnataka 01.08.2009

MCC resolves to remove illegal water connections

Staff Correspondent

— Photo: R. Eswarraj

MAKING A POINT: Shankar Bhat (second from left), Mayor, speaking at the monthly meeting of the city corporation in Mangalore on Friday. Rajani Dugganna, Deputy Mayor, is to his right.

MANGALORE: The Mangalore City Corporation council in its meeting on Friday resolved to take immediate steps to disconnect all unauthorised water connections from the main pipeline that supplies water to the city from the Thumbe vented dam.

Mayor M. Shankar Bhat directed engineers to prepare a list of illegal connections within 10 days. The corporation would file criminal and civil cases against those who had taken such connections, he said.

Mr. Bhat said that a meeting would be held with the Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada, the Chief Executive Officer of the zilla panchayat, MLAs, and other elected representatives shortly to discuss this issue.

The Mayor said that district in-charge Minister J. Krishna Palemar had convened a meeting of elected representatives and officials sometime ago to resolve this issue. Accordingly, steps had been taken to supply water to people living in the limits of gram panchayats between Thumbe and the city with a 2-MGD (million gallons a day) pipeline.

A new pump, estimated to cost Rs. 35 lakh, had been installed at Thumbe to pump water to the pipeline. In spite of this, the people living between Thumbe and the city continued to draw water from the main 18-MGD pipeline. There could be at least 25 such illegal connections there, he said. The Mayor said that it was unfair to draw water illegally when the corporation was providing water to the people in the gram panchayat limits. G.V. Rajashekaramurthy, Executive Engineer, told the council that illegal tapping had resulted in 30 to 40 per cent reduction in the quantity of water being supplied to the city.

Water to UPCL

The Opposition members in the council objected to a proposal of the civic body to supply 100 cubic metres of water an hour (0.5 MGD or 2.54 million litres a day) to Udupi Power Corporation Ltd. for its storage yard on the premises of New Mangalore Port.

Clarification

The Mayor told the members that the corporation would supply water to UPCL only after two years. But the company needed an assurance letter to this effect. As the Government had laid an additional 18-MGD capacity pipeline from Thumbe to the city, there would be an increase in the quantity of water being supplied to the city in two years.

In addition, the civic body was planning to get water from the Lakhya dam at Kudremukh. Hence the city might not face any problem despite supplying water to UPCL after two years, he said.

However, the council resolved to supply water to UPCL only if there was excess water after meeting the drinking water requirements of the city.

Market complex

The council approved a proposal to build a market complex at Bejai at an estimated cost of Rs. 49.9 lakh. It was decided to entrust the construction to Karnataka Land Army Corporation Ltd., a State Government undertaking.

Mariyamma Thomas, member, urged the Mayor to take steps to fill potholes on roads that had been damaged owing to the recent heavy rain. However, none of the members appeared to have taken this subject seriously as they chose to discuss various other subjects.