Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Cyclonic storms keep hitting India almost every year be it in the Arabian Sea or in the Bay of Bengal. Cyclones are generated by atmospheric disturbances around a low pressure area. If we look at the events of the last two to three decades, the storms that India had to face, a large number of people had to suffer in addition to the loss of life and property. On the contrary, the precautionary preparations made by the Central and the State Governments after receiving information about Cyclone Biparjoy, which hit Gujarat recently, at least saved lives.
The alertness, patience, prudence and seriousness with which the head of the house succeeds in reducing the magnitude of the crisis to zero during calamities, such characters are the ones who are established in history as Dhirodatta heroes. In the last nine years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure, it has been proved that he does not lose patience in any disaster.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guidance and strategies proved effective in dealing with Biparjoy. He alerted the machinery to deal with Biparjoy. He himself held high-level meetings with the agencies to ensure that the residents of the affected areas were sent to safer places.
In the last one decade, efforts have been made to prevent loss of lives due to cyclones. Yet, there was loss of lives. But in the advance arrangements made to deal with Biparjoy, public safety was a priority. The Meteorological Department had forecast that there could be rain with strong winds in many states of India. In view of these circumstances, concrete arrangements were made. I believe that due to all these arrangements, loss of lives due to the effect of Biparjoy could be prevented.
How could all this have been possible?
As we know that about 58 per cent of the land area in India is prone to earthquakes of moderate to very high intensity, and more than 40 million hectares that is 12 per cent of the country’s land remains prone to floods. We have about 5700 km of coastal area up to 7516 km of cyclone and Tsunami-prone area. Keeping all these in mind, the Prime Minister has paid attention to the strategies of disaster management.
The most important point in the disaster management strategy is pre-disaster management and preparation. Despite this, if a disaster occurs and the preparations prove to be inadequate and if the disaster causes damage, complete preparations for rehabilitation should be made.
Apart from this, Prime Minister has linked ministries like Atomic Energy, Civil Aviation, Earth Sciences, Environment and Forests, Home, Health, Railways, Space and Water Resources to preparedness with disaster management.
I, on behalf of the citizens of Madhya Pradesh, heartily congratulate Prime Minister Modi, whose farsightedness and effective strategy has given the countrymen a protective cover along with happiness and prosperity.
(MP Chief Minister is blogger)
