Jaipur, July 8. The Chief Minister Smt. Vasundhara Raje chaired a meeting of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) at the CMO on Tuesday. The meeting was called to take a stock of situation regarding preparedness of the state machinery to tackle the hovering condition of famine caused by delay in monsoon in the state.

Smt. Raje directed the officials of all departments associated with the SDMA to assess the situation and work out a plan in advance, which could be immediately implemented in the event of any scarcity.

The Chief Minister asked for proper availability of seeds for short-term crops so that the farmers could be immediately facilitated when delayed rains occurred. She further directed for ensuring availability of minikits for fodder in ample amount.

Talking about the supplies of drinking water and power, the CM asked the officials to be vigilant while taking water from the dams and other surface reservoirs in the state. To stop water-borne diseases during rains, Smt. Raje asked for regular cleaning of filter plants and water tanks. She asked for proper regular supply of electricity for domestic and agricultural purposes.

The Chief Minister told the officials that for proper and regular water supplies in the coming days a proposal for contingency plan worth Rs. 504 crores had already been sent to the central government.

Smt. Raje asked the medical and public health department to be specifically prepared to deal with seasonal diseases, maintain enough stocks of important medicines at all the health centres and make sure that the health workers remained present at their respective headquarters. She further directed for timely payment of wages to the workers employed under the MGNREGA scheme.

New state disaster management policy and a state disaster management plan as per provisions of Disaster Management Act 2005 were also approved during this meeting.

Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Shri Gulab Chand Kataria, Medical and Health Minister Shri Rajendra Rathore, Agriculture Minister Shri Prabhu Lal Saini, Energy Minister Shri Gajendra Singh Kheenvsar, Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies Shri Hem Singh Bhadana, Minister of State for Cooperatives Shri Ajay Singh Kilak, Chief Secretary Shri Rajeev Mehrishi, ACS Infrastructure Shri C.S. Rajan, ACS Agriculture Shri Ashok Sampatram, Principal Secretaries and Secretaries of the concerned departments were present in the meeting.