Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan has also directed the Information Technology Department to keep the communication system in order in case of emergency and to deal with cyber war. He has asked to monitor fake news on internet media and take legal action against those who spread misleading news and information.
He has asked to establish the Highline number of Civil Defense linked with the Army in the State Disaster Operations Center. The objective is that better coordination can be done with various agencies at the time of any disaster. On Monday, at the State Disaster Operations Center, the Chief Secretary also reviewed the preparations of various departments for quick and effective action at the time of various disasters. During this, he directed to expand the scope of Civil Defense in view of the current conditions of the state. He said that such districts and areas of the state should be identified which can be notified as Civil Defense. He said that in case of any kind of disaster in future and recurrence of the recent conflict scenario, it is necessary that preparations should be kept strong at every level. Mutual coordination and synergy between civil administration and army and other forces is extremely important. For this, information should be exchanged on a regular basis so that it can be known in which areas there is a need for improvement. He said that such inter-departmental meetings should be organized at least three times a year. He also directed to inspect the fire fighting equipment installed at various places in the state and install new equipment if needed.
WhatsApp groups should be created for better coordination
The Chief Secretary also directed to create WhatsApp groups of senior officers of various departments, Army, Air Force and paramilitary forces for better coordination and to nominate single point contact for departments and agencies. Principal Secretary RK Sudhanshu, Director General of Police Deepak Seth, Deputy General Officer in Command Sub Area Brigadier RS Thapa, Principal Secretary R Meenakshi Sundaram, Home Secretary Shailesh Bagauli, Nitesh Jha, Secretary Kurve, Dr R Rajesh Kumar, Director General Civil Defense Dr PVK Prasad, Commissioner Garhwal Vinay Shankar Pandey, Secretary Disaster Management Vinod Kumar Suman and Director General Information Banshidhar Tiwari along with other officers were present in the meeting.