Porvorim: After holding a marathon meeting with the officials to work out measures to avoid Wayanad like tragedy, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant conceded that “we have woken up after Wayanad.”
The government has pulled up its sleeves after the massive landslide incident at Wayanad, Kerala, reactivating two-year-old high-level committee and also making the ground-level revenue officials responsible for reporting illegal hill cutting in their respective areas.
State Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday chaired a high-level meeting of State Disaster Management Committee which was attended by State Revenue Minister Atanasio Monserratte and other high ranking officials at Porvorim.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, Sawant conceded that the state government has woken up after the incident of Wayanad, reviving its machinery to ensure that such mishaps don’t happen in Goa.
Goa shares Sahyadri Hill ranges with Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra.
Sawant said that the Goa had State Disaster Management Committee, which will be now upgraded as “State Disaster Management Authority” which will have dedicated officers, who will work round the year.
The Chief Minister recalled that the biggest landslides had happened in the year 2022 in Sattari taluka inside the forests of Satrem, Karanzol and Mauxi villages.
He said that the landslide was massive as it covered one lakh square metres of the area. Sawant said that the committee which was formed to probe the incident had concluded that the incident happened due to heavy rains and also because of the deforestation that took place in the forest.
The Chief Minister said that the smaller landslides have been reported during last few years in the talukas of Bardez, Mormugao, Sattari, Bicholim, Pernem and Salcette across Goa.
Sawant said that after the Wayanad incident, the Goa government has decided to extend the period of the committee formed in the year 2022 by another three months with the mandate to identify landslide prone areas.
He said that the main focus would be on those areas which are tucked on the foothills. He said that the committee has powers to immediately stop any activity like hill cutting, if they find that it could be dangerous to the people living around.
Sawant said that another committee comprising of Mamlatdars (local revenue officer), Zonal Agriculture Officer and Range Forest Officers which will monitor the situation in their respective areas.
He said that the guidelines would be issued to various departments including Revenue, Forest, Town and Country Planning, Public Works Department, Panchayat and Urban Development who will not allow the construction activity in the areas like No Development Zone and Eco sensitive areas.
Sawant said that the state will also take help from National Disaster Management Authority to identify landslide prone zones and also develop techniques including Early Warning System.
The Chief Minister said that local Talathis (Revenue officers) would be given responsibility to check any hill cutting activity in their respective areas.
