Mumbai : As the coastal districts in Maharashtra were battered with natural calamities over the past two years, the Maharashtra cabinet on Wednesday cleared a proposal to set up a ₹3,200-crore Konkan disaster management programme. The special programme — Konkan disaster mitigation project — will take up several measures in the region to safeguard the people in case of any calamity such as cyclone, floods, landslides, etc. Over the past two years, the Konkan strip has faced two cyclones — Nisarga in 2020 and Tauktae this year. Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg district have also seen severe flooding after extremely heavy rainfall, landslide and other disasters. Under the project, a comprehensive four-year plan for capacity building, pre-planning measures to safeguard people, as well as proper utilisation of mitigation funds will be prepared.

“Cyclone and floods have continuously damaged the coastal districts. After the natural calamity, locals face issues of power outage for days, availability of potable water, etc. The people, who are in danger areas, have to be moved to safer locations. Through the project, we will take mitigation steps such as laying underground power cables, construct permanent and resilient shelters in these districts where people can be moved, fortify coastline which is eroded due to waves, etc,” state relief and rehabilitation minister Vijay Wadettiwar said. As part of the project, a system will be set up for early warning to ensure better preparedness to deal with natural disasters, senior officials said. They added, the impact on locals will be less and response time will also be improved. It would not only save lives, but also reduce damage to critical infrastructure. The state has earmarked ₹3,200 crore for the project, of which ₹2,000 crore will be provided by the state disaster management department and the remaining ₹1,200 crore will be provided by the state government over the next four years, the minister added.