The 10th meeting of the State Executive Committee (SEC) constituted under Section 20 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 was organized here today under the chairpersonship of Chief Secretary Anil Kumar Khachi to review the preparedness measures for COVID-19.
After detailed deliberations, it was decided that all directions and guidelines issued by the Government of India will be adopted by the State in totality. All departments and districts will follow the same and the implementation of these will be reviewed and monitored on a regular basis.
Himachal Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (HPSDMA) in the year 2011 had notified 17 departments which would perform Emergency Support Functions in the face of disasters to ensure a timely and well coordinated response. It was decided the considering the gravity of the current situation it was decided that more roles and responsibilities need to be notified to manage the current crisis situation.
Thirdly, it was decided that the Disaster Management Cell, Department of Revenue-Disaster Management and the Department of Health need to constitute a ‘COVID-19 Management Strategy’ for the state. The meeting concluded with the resolve for opearationalizing the state and district Emergency Operations Centres (EOCs) as a focal point for coordination and compilation of reports and resources for COVID-19.
Additional Chief Secretaries R. D. Dhiman and Manoj Kumar, Principal Secretary Jagdish Chander and Onkar Chand Sharma, Director-General of Police SR Mardi and Director-cum-Special Secretary-Revenue-DM D.C. Rana) were present for this meeting.
