Cuttack: The district administration has planned to introduce a slew of measures to tackle possible heatwave condition in the summer.
The administration has recently convened a preparatory meeting to deal with the heatwave condition. Presiding over the meeting, collector Aravind Agrawal asked officials to ensure zero casualty during the summer.
As per the decisions, the administration would open a control room to deal with issues related to heatwave. Apart from that, separate control rooms would be opened at the district headquarter hospitals and offices of public health engineering organisation (PHEO), Rural water supply and sanitation (RWSS) department, Electricity department and all block and tehsil offices in the district.
Agrawal has also directed the officials of PHEO and RWSS to repair all defunct tube-wells in the district. All block development officers (BDOs) have been advised to hold separate meetings and purchase equipment to repair the defunct tube-wells.
Apart from that, the district collector has asked the BDOs to deploy some tankers to supply potable water to people and address all grievances with regard to water scarcity within 48 hours of receiving the complaints.
The collector also put emphasis on opening temporary drinking water kiosks in both urban and rural areas. He asked municipal and panchayat authorities to collaborate with social outfits and voluntary organisations to open drinking water kiosks at strategic places.
The collector also stressed on providing uninterrupted power supply in summer. Moreover, it has been decided that schools would conduct classes between 6 am and 11 am and complete all examinations by April-end.
The administration has put restrictions on physical labour from 11 am to 3 pm and asked the district labour officer to ensure drinking water at workplaces. Besides, the authorities of primary and community health centres have been directed to store necessary drugs to treat people suffering from sunstroke.
The collector has asked the chief district medical officer (CDMO) to make sure that doctors and health staff remain present at the hospitals from 11 am to 4 pm every day.
The administration asked Forest department officials to ensure adequate water for wild animals and take necessary steps to deal with incidents of forest fire.
“We have asked all departments to submit their contingency plans on heatwave condition within a couple of days,” said an official of the district administration.
