Storm warning: Officials told to be prepared

Dehradun, May 14 

With the weather department warning of rain and hailstorm in parts of Uttarakhand, the police on Monday asked all its district heads to stay alert and  prepared.

ADGP (Law and Order) Ashok Kumar asked SPs and senior SPs of all districts to be prepared in view of the MeT department warning and deploy adequate force on river banks, waterfalls and similar places of tourist interest where people take photographs, a statement released here said.  

State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), disaster response teams and water police personnel should be ready with necessary equipment at all police stations to jump into action in case of an emergency, it said quoting the ADG.

The hill patrol units and tourism police were also asked to inform Char Dham pilgrims about the warning and send weather updates on WhatsApp so that they could take necessary precautions. 

The department has warned of rain and hailstorm in seven districts of Uttarakhand, including Dehradun, Haridwar, Pauri, Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar, Pithoragarh and Champawat, over the next 24 hours. — PTI