Hyderabad: With heavy rain lashing parts of the state for the past two days, chief secretary Sanjay Jaju has instructed collectors to take all necessary measures to prevent any loss of life or property. With continuous rainfall over the past two days and forecasts indicating more wet weather for another two days, he held a video conference on Thursday evening with district collectors and police brass to review precautionary measures.During the conference, the CS said the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted heavy rain in several districts and asked the officials to act in coordination with police and other departments. He asked all district headquarters to set up control rooms and continuously monitor the situation. He also directed authorities to ensure that tourists were prevented from visiting waterfalls and other hazardous locations in tourist areas.Collectors in the Godavari districts were told to keep a close watch on conditions and alert people living in low-lying areas. He said that NDRF and SDRF teams have been kept ready and assured that all necessary support would be provided whenever required.As the IMD has indicated that rainfall might remain below normal even in Sept due to the impact of El Nino, he instructed the collectors to create awareness among farmers about taking up alternative crops instead of paddy. He said vegetable cultivation would not only fetch good prices in the market, but procurement support would also be extended through the Hare Krishna Foundation.He stressed that special attention should be given to districts likely to receive heavy rain over the next two days, and that district collectors must stay vigilant and take preventive steps in advance so that the public do not face difficulties.DGP CV Anand said that 249 picnic spots near dangerous water bodies and another 167 tourist locations across several districts had been identified, and police had taken steps to stop people from visiting these places during heavy rains and floods. He added that 12 SDRF companies were also on standby.Kadem, Taliperu & Jurala gates openedWith heavy rain lashing the state and inflows increasing into various irrigation projects, the irrigation department has opened the gates of some of the projects and started lifting water in Godavari and Krishna catchment areas.Official sources said 10 gates of Kadem project in Nirmal district on Godavari River were lifted and about 48,000 cusecs of water were released downstream and 22 gates of Taliperu project in Bhadradri-Kothagudem project were lifted releasing about 30,000 cusecs. Taliperu, a tributary of the Godavari, supplies five tmc ft of water in Cherla and Dummugudem mandals. The irrigation department officials have started operating Nandi Medaram pump house, which is part of the Kaleshwaram project, from Wednesday and lifting water to the Mid Manair reservoir. On the Krishna, 10 gates of the Jurala project were opened, releasing about 39,000 cusecs downstream. Telangana Genco also started generating hydel power from Jurala power generation units.
