New Delhi: With monsoon rains likely to hit the Indian southwestern coast May-end, the government yesterday sounded an alert and asked states to be prepared to tackle any possible disaster in the wake of floods triggered by the heavy rains.
More advice from Home Secretary G.K. Pillai's office urged state governments to keep a close vigil on human traffickers who abduct those affected, particularly children, and left vulnerable after devastating floods, to work as bricklayers, domestic servants or even be sold as brides.
Pillai, at the day-long conference on disaster management ahead of monsoon, "warned that human trafficking gangs become very active during all disasters and there was a need to monitor their activities".
The Home Ministry organised the annual conference to review the state of preparedness of states and union territories.
Pillai, in his address, emphasised the importance of disaster management and climate change, and their resultant impact on health, agriculture and the habitat of different species.
Speaking about preparedness and mitigation measures, he pointed out that the amendment of building bylaws as per the vulnerability index of states was "the key priority area and there was an urgent need to prepare for disaster scenarios through regular mock drills and exercises".
A.E. Ahmad, Secretary for Border Management, focused on likely scenarios and their impact coupled with climate change aspects. He also asked the state representatives to prepare and forward consolidated memoranda for central assistance in case of disasters of a severe nature.
"The states needed to gear up their machinery for coordination with all stakeholders engaged in disaster-related activities and to follow the checklists issued by [the ministry] for better preparedness," Ahmad said.
