Bhubaneswar, Jan 18 (Odisha.in) The state government is making all efforts to commission its ambitious Early Warning Dissemination System (EWDS) project by March 2018, officials said on Thursday.
Special Relief Commissioner Bishnupada Sethi on Wednesday held a meeting with all the concerned and reviewed the over all progress of the on going works.
According to officials the state has already installed 99 towers and all 57 poles out of the total 103 towers and 57 roof top poles. The balance 3 towers are expected to be completed within next two weeks.
Various issues concerning the project like arrangement for security proper upkeep of the EWDS installations, proper inventory of equipments and materials supplied under the project, etc. were also discussed in the meeting.
The EWDS is the first of its kind automatic public address system in the country. It will help the state to warn a vast population residing along its coast from the state headquarters through loud Sirens from towers installed at 122 locations, in the event of the occurrence of natural disasters like a tsunami or a cyclone.
Alert Siren System at 122 locations near the coast (within 1.5 km approximately) will cover tourist places, fish landing centres and entire coastal habitations.
Being implemented in 22 blocks under 6 coastal districts such as Balasore, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Puri and Ganjam, the cost of the project is 100 per cent grant in favour of the State by Government of India through World Bank.
Annual Maintainance Cost (AMC) cost for 3rd 4th and 5th year will be borne under State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), the Special Relief Commissioner said in a Facebook post.
While power supply to the alert towers to be provided out of existing connections, at Fish Landing Centres, where no government official is available, a responsible person from fishermen society need to be identified to look after upkeep of communication equipment.
Similarly the concerned departments will have to indicate the names of the officials to be in charge of EWDS equipment installed in different places including schools, Panthanivas, anganwadi centres, Gram Panchayat offices and police stations.
The State Executive Committee in its meeting held yesterday under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary, Shri Aditya Prasad Padhi had extended of the completion date of project to 31 March 2018.
Odisha.in