‘36 in Meghalaya have fallen to hydrometeorological calamities’

SHILLONG, Aug 1: As many as 36 people in Meghalaya have lost their lives due to hydrometeorological calamities during the year 2022-23, the Centre has informed the Lower House during the ongoing Monsoon session of the Parliament.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Monday, DoNER Minister G Kishan Reddy said that 4,863 houses were damaged, 338 livestock were lost while 0.011 lakh hectares of crop area was affected in hydrometeorological disasters.
The DoNER minister also informed that a central assistance of Rs 139.91 crore has been released to the Northeastern states for anti-erosion and flood-control activities, including prevention of landslides from FY 2017-18 to FY 2021-22 under the schemes of North Eastern Council.
Meghalaya alone has been provided Rs 22.73 crore as central assistance.
He pointed out that the Centre had implemented a plan called Flood Management Programme (FMP) to provide assistance to states for works relating to river management, flood control, erosion control, drainage development, etc., which subsequently continued as a component of ‘Flood Management and Border Areas Programme’ for the period from 2017-18 to 2020-21, further extending up to September 2022.
“In order to provide more lead time to local authorities to plan evacuation of people and take other precautionary measures, Central Water Commission has developed a basin-wise flood-forecasting model based on rainfall-runoff,” Reddy said, adding that even the North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC) uses satellite data to develop early warning system on natural calamities.