CHENNAI: A monsoon preparedness meeting under the leadership of Chief Minister MK Stalin was held in the city on Monday in which various precautionary and preventive methods were discussed by officials from various departments.
With the North East monsoon season just around the corner, heavy showers are expected in the state from October 15 onwards.
Following this, the Chief Minister held discussions with various municipal departments about disaster management and took stock of the preparations that are in place.
Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin, Minister of Water Resources Durai Murugan, Revenue and Disaster Management minister KKSSR Ramachandran, Chief Secretary Muruganandham, officials from the department of disaster management, public works, fire and rescue, Corporation commissioner and the senior police officials took part in the meeting.
The CM assessed the ongoing preparation and directed the concerned departments to expedite the pending work and complete it at the earliest.
The team also reviewed the progess on storm water drains in various districts and CM Stalin gave instructions to accelerate the desilting of canals and focus on desilting Cooum and Adyar River before the monsoon.
The Municipal Corporation, Highways Department, Fire Department and the Public Works Department have been advised to keep earth movers, power saws, generators, sandbags and other necessary tools ready to deal with the excess rainwater inundation.
Noting that Chennai and Thoothukudi suffered considerably during last year's monsoon, Stalin asked the municipal departments to focus more on ensuring better monsoon preparedness in these two districts.