Shimla admn on alert after snowfall warning

Tribune News Service

Shimla, January 2

The district administration has set up an emergency response centre that can be accessed by dialing 1077 and official machineries have been geared up as per the snow manual to meet any situation in the city or the district.

Apart from this, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Amit Kashyap directed all SDMs of the district to gear up all machineries to restore roads, transmission lines and electricity and water supplies, which would get disrupted due to snowfall in their respective areas.

The Met department has predicted snow or rains from January 4 to January 6 in the state.

Presiding over a meeting with officials of the local administration, police, PWD, NHAI, Municipal Corporation, forest, IPH, electricity board and other departments here on Wednesday, the DC said they should conduct an exercise to achieve better coordination among all those who are responsible for the restoration works in the city and each subdivision of the district.

It was observed that during emergency, fire tenders get stuck due to roadside disruption and the fire and the police should conduct mock drill to clear all hurdles for smooth operations in the city, said Kashyap.

The DC directed the officials of the PWD and the NHAI to deploy the machineries and sand on the designated points to clear snow and restore the roads, making them non-slippery for movement of traffic and public. The Forest Department should engage enough cutters to clear the roads in case trees block the roads or damage the electricity lines, Kashyap said.

“The city has been divided into five sectors, each sector would work under a nodal officer overseeing restoration work in his/her sector. We have taken all possible steps as required under the snow manual,” he added.