Nabarangpur, March 17: A district-level meeting on natural disaster management and preparedness to tackle heatwave conditions was held in the Mission Shakti conference hall under the chairmanship of Nabarangpur District Collector Dr. Maheshwar Swain.
The meeting focused on ensuring adequate drinking water supply during the upcoming summer season and effectively addressing heatstroke-related issues. The Collector advised officials to urgently repair defunct tube wells on a war footing.
He directed the Chief District Medical Officer and the District Social Welfare Officer to ensure sufficient stock of ORS packets and necessary medicines at every Anganwadi centre and school in the district. The Collector also emphasized that schools must mandatorily provide safe drinking water to students at regular intervals.
The District Labour Officer was instructed to make special arrangements for drinking water at worksites for labourers. As per state government guidelines, considering the risk of heatstroke during peak heat hours, labourers should not be engaged in work between 11:00 AM and 3:30 PM, and proper shaded rest areas must be arranged.
Discussions were also held regarding school timings in accordance with state government advisories during the summer season. To prevent heatwave-related incidents, transport vehicles and bus stands should ensure the availability of adequate drinking water and ORS packets. The Regional Transport Officer was directed accordingly.
The Municipality was instructed to repair tube wells on a priority basis and, where necessary, supply drinking water to villages through tankers. For effective management of heatstroke cases, arrangements such as special wards and cooling rooms should be ensured at primary health centres, community health centres, and the district headquarters hospital.
To ensure uninterrupted power supply at the District Headquarters Hospital and all Community Health Centres, the concerned departmental Executive Engineer of TPCODL was directed to take necessary measures. The Collector also instructed officials to set up temporary shade arrangements at crowded public places wherever required.
Additional District Magistrate (Revenue) Bichitrananda Charman advised that similar preparatory meetings be conducted at the block level with concerned block-level officers. The meeting was coordinated by District Emergency Officer Smt. Gitanjali Behera.
Among others present were Zilla Parishad Chief Executive Officer Yadumani Nayak, Chief District Public Health Officer Dr. Mallar Kumar Tripathy, Executive Engineer (RWSS) Prateek Kumar Bhauj, Tripati Balaji Sahu, District Information & Public Relations Officer Manoj Kumar Behera, PA ITDA, Regional Transport Officer Jitendra Bhoi, District Panchayat Officer Padmanav Tripathy, District Social Welfare Officer Duryodhan Sahu, all Block Development Officers, Tahasildars, and other senior district officials.
At the end of the meeting, District Project Officer Himanshu Sekhar Patnaik delivered the vote of thanks.
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