Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Monday directed officials to ensure that IT employees work from home (WFH) for the next three days, following an IMD warning about heavy to very heavy rain across Telangana, including Hyderabad, over the next 72 hours.
He also instructed the education department to decide on declaring holidays for schools and colleges based on the situation. Leave of officials and employees of all departments has been cancelled, and everyone must be available in the field, he said.
He directed the police commissioners of Hyderabad, Cyberabad, and Rachakonda to work in coordination with the GHMC, HMDA, and MA&UD departments.
Disaster management, fire, and GHMC teams must operate jointly. HYDRA toll-free numbers should be set up for public grievances, and issues must be resolved promptly. Traffic management should be given priority, with law-and-order police assisting. Weather warnings should be regularly disseminated through the media, without creating panic, the Chief Minister said.
Addressing a video conference with district collectors and top officials from the Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC), the Chief Minister stressed that every possible measure should be taken to prevent loss of life.
He instructed officials to restrict movement across low-level causeways and bridges over overflowing rivers, streams, and canals, and to alert shepherds and cattle grazers in advance to prevent them from being stranded in floodwaters. Arrangements should be made for immediate rescue in case anyone is trapped, and livestock losses should be prevented wherever possible, he added.
The Chief Minister asked Chief Secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao to appoint senior officers as special officers in districts where heavy rainfall warnings have been issued. While rainfall manuals exist, climate change is bringing extreme downpours within hours — akin to cloudbursts — causing unprecedented damage, he noted.
Strategies must be drawn up to tackle such situations, he said, citing past tragedies in Khammam and Warangal where unexpected heavy rains caused loss of lives and property.
Irrigation officials were told to closely monitor inflows and outflows in reservoirs, lakes, and tanks, and to inform people in low-lying areas before water is released. Precautionary measures must be taken to prevent breaches in tank bunds.
The Chief Minister instructed the power department to keep mobile transformers, generators, poles, and other materials ready, and to resolve any disruptions immediately. Health staff should be on alert, primary and community health centres must stock essential medicines, and ambulances should be ready to shift pregnant women.
Collectors were told to shift people from low-lying areas to relief camps with all necessary facilities. The animal husbandry department was instructed to register FIRs and provide compensation to farmers for livestock deaths due to lightning strikes.