Centre, states need better coordination to handle flood:Rijiju

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju today said there should be better and faster coordination between the central and state agencies in handling floods, besides strengthening of disaster forces.
After doing an aerial survey of flood-hit Goalpara, Kamrup Rural and Dhubri districts in Assam, Rijiju said "firstly, the information of the forecast and dissemination of impending danger or natural disaster or calamity should reach faster to the states and ground level officials. That we will ensure. Secondly, we need to strengthen our forces."
He said handling of the flood situation should have been more efficient and he was personally looking into it and following up the matter.

"So I hope our entire effort will bring some respite to the affected people," he said.
When asked specifically if he was happy at the way the state government was handling the latest wave of floods, the minister said "it is being done very well, but nothing is 100 per cent satisfactory because we always want it to be more efficient...I am not saying that there was laxity in the operation, but we need to have faster coordination network."
Rijiju said people in Goalpara felt that the rescue teams should have reached earlier.
"It was very sudden. I want to have more coordination in the Ministry. The cloudburst and flash floods, which happened in northern part of Meghalaya and because of which this damage has happened, could have been warned a little bit more earlier and more precisely," he said.

On strengthening of disaster response force, Rijiju said the union government was planning to have one more permanent centre in the North East apart from Guwahati.