more-in Ramanathapuram Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation Chairman and Managing Director B. Chandra Mohan, who is the district monitoring officer, inspected rain-affected areas in the district on Sunday and called upon officials to take all precautionary measures to prevent loss of life and damage to properties during the northeast monsoon. Accompanied by Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao, the monitoring officer visited the inundated low-lying areas and inspected the precautionary measures taken by the district administration to rescue people when they faced distress and alleviate their sufferings during rains. Talking to reporters after inspecting the rain-hit areas in Pasumpon Nagar, RS Madai and Thirupullani, Mr. Mohan said the officials had been asked to harvest rainwater and ensure it was stored in waterbodies. Blocks in supply channels should be removed as and when for free flow of water to waterbodies, he said. Pointing that the district had so far received the average rainfall, he said in the event of heavy rains due to cyclones, the district administration should be ready to undertake relief and rescue operations in less response time. He was happy the district administration had taken all precautionary measures and geared up to face any eventuality, he added. He said a total of 5,588 ‘first responders’ had been kept in readiness in all the 429 panchayats to rescue people in the event of a calamity. He said the emergency control room would function round the clock and people could contact the room for help by calling the toll-free numbers – 1077 and 04567-230060. The district administration had also kept ready 148 ‘protection centres’ – 23 multi-purpose cyclone relief centres, 32 schools, two colleges and 91 marriage halls, he said. Thanks to widespread rainfall on Saturday night, the district received an average of 28.61 mm of rain. As the sharp showers were accompanied by thunder and lightning, power supply was disrupted and several areas plunged into darkness. Power supply was restored to most of the areas only on Sunday morning. DRO S. Muthumari, Project Director, DRDA Getzi Leema Amalani, RDO R Suman and Assistant Director, Panchayats, A. Chelladurai were among others who accompanied the monitoring officer.

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