People will be booked if they violate disaster safety warnings: DC Mullai Muhilan
Mangaluru: Deputy Commissioner M.P. Mullai Muhilan on July 28 cautioned people, including tourists visiting the district, not to violate disaster safety warnings and venture into prohibited areas. Suitable legal action will be initiated against such them, he said.
Speaking to reporters here about the district administration’s preparedness to face natural disasters owing to heavy rains, Muhilan said many areas in the district were identified as disaster-prone areas, including 87 places along the National and State Highways with 34 being along the Charmadi Ghat alone. Some 18 locations under Mangaluru City Corporation limits were identified as flood-prone, he said.
Muhilan regretted that seven deaths had occurred in the district in the last two weeks, including five due to drowning. The government has instructed the district administration to take all precautionary measures to save life and property. Security personnel were deployed along eight beaches, temple towns Kateel, Dharmasthala, and Kukke Subrahmanya, and other flood-prone areas to prevent people from visiting dangerous locations during alerts, Muhilan said.
The administration, Muhilan said, has decentralised the disaster management task ensuring teams at every gram panchayat, and ward of every urban local body. In all, 296 such teams were formed with 233 being in the GP level while each has a nodal officer. Also, 25 NDRF, 38 SDRF, 190 fire and emergency services, and 74 home guard personnel were deployed across the district to tackle natural disasters and help people.
Superintendent of Police C.B. Ryshyanth said the police would restrict entry on roads wherever a flood threat was there. Of the four routes to Kukke Subrahmanya, two were blocked. It was advisable for people to avoid visiting the temple town during heavy rains, he said.
Mangaluru City Police Commissioner Kuldeep Kumar R. Jain urged tourists not to indulge in any adventure in or near water bodies. Strict action would be taken if the cautions were violated, he said. Jain suggested to tourists use Google Maps to exactly learn which road was blocked and which was open.
