Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Saturday held a meeting through video conferencing with top officials of the state government and all the district magistrates on important issues like forest fire, drinking water problem, upcoming Chardham Yatra, electricity supply etc. in the state and issued guidelines from Uttarakhand Sadan in New Delhi.
Responsibility for forest fire should be fixed from top to bottom
Regarding forest fire in the state, the Chief Minister said that forest fire has emerged as a big challenge before us. He directed Chief Secretary Radha Raturi to fix the responsibility of officers from top to bottom in this matter. The Chief Minister said that the responsibilities of the divisions should be distributed among all the officers posted at the headquarters level and regular reports should be taken from all of them. He said that the District Magistrate should also fully cooperate with the Forest Department in the work of preventing forest fires. The Chief Minister said that we also have to ensure that safety measures are taken for the fire watchers working in the field and for this, options like insurance etc. should be considered for them. Also, it should be ensured that DFO and higher level officers visit the spot. He said that the fire cannot be controlled by sitting in the office. Whatever strict action needs to be taken for this, it should be taken. District Magistrates were also instructed to take decisions according to the circumstances.
The Chief Secretary assured the Chief Minister that positive results would be seen in the matter of forest fire within a week. The Chief Minister was informed by the newly appointed Chief that till now a total of 350 cases have been registered in forest fire incidents, out of which 60 named cases were registered. He said that wherever the incident is being reported, teams are being sent immediately and the fire is being brought under control within one to six hours. During this time, the Chief Secretary was also informed to the Chief Minister that the state government has signed an agreement with NTPC regarding Pirul and NTPC has also started taking Pirul from the state. In such a situation, this will also prove to be effective in preventing fire in the future.
Chardham Yatra is both a challenge and a test
While reviewing the Chardham Yatra preparations, the Chief Minister said that Chardham Yatra is both a challenge and a time of testing for us. He directed the DGP to ensure that the security personnel deployed in the temple premises behave well with the devotees and immediately come forward to help them. He said that any devotee who leaves here should take a good message with him. He said that the first 15 days of the journey are very challenging for us and necessary instructions have already been issued for this. There should be minimal movement of VIPs in these 15 days. He said that every kind of information about Chardham should be disseminated as much as possible so that the pilgrims do not have to face any kind of problems. He told the District Magistrates to take special care of cleanliness on the travel routes. The Chief Secretary informed that additional sanitation workers have been deployed on the Yatra route by District Magistrate Rudraprayag. The Chief Minister gave instructions to deploy adequate number of doctors and paramedical staff in rotation for health services. He said that most of the complaints come regarding heli services and there is a need to take strict action on this.
