Police directed to be monsoon ready

The state police chief TK Rajendran has asked his field officers across the state to be monsoon ready and prepare an operational plan to cope up with exigencies of the ensuing monsoon.

Referring to last year’s catastrophic northeast monsoon, the state DGP, in his eightpoint instruction communique sent to field officials and which was circulated to the media, said, “It is imperative that police personnel are trained, equipped, briefed and kept in readiness for deployment at short notice during the ensuing monsoon.”

He also advised them to prepare an operational plan in line with the responsibilities assigned to their department in district disaster management plan so as to respond to any type of disaster in accordance with Disaster Manager Act 2005. 

Among the instructions were identification of suitable police personnel and preparation of a deployment plan with special focus on utilising the services of armed reserve, TSP (Tamil Nadu special police) and special forces. The identification should correspond to the district and taluk disaster management plans in all districts and villages disaster management plans in coastal villages under coastal disaster risk reduction project, the DGP added suggesting the utilisation of training modules developed for state disaster response force (SDRF) to impart training to the selected personnel to take up rescue, evacuation, crowd control and assistance in relief operations.