Mah CM reviews monsoon preparation plans

Mumbai, May 25 (UNI) With the monsoon season approaching, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is taking no chances this time and convened a meeting of the Disaster Management committee today to review the preparations to tackle disasters during the rains.

Officials of BMC, MMRDA, BEST, Reliance Energy, Railways, Army and Navy were present on the occasion.

Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Mr Deshmukh extended the deadline of all pre-monsoon works till June 5.

In case of heavy rains, personnel in Essential services will not be given leave. Special care will be taken to ensure functioning of control rooms in an effective manner.

Officers appointed to man the control rooms will be trained to perform their specific duties.

Mr Deshmukh said Chief Secretary Dr D K Shankaran has been authorised to co-ordinate with his counterparts in the neighbouring states on the inter-state dam projects regarding release of water to prevent flooding during monsoon.

A high level secretarial committee will be set up to review and monitor all the decisions taken by the Disaster Management committee.

The Chief Minister informed that Western and Central Railways have been asked to update information on hourly basis regarding movement of trains at every suburban station.

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