How Andhra Pradesh came to the rescue of Odisha during Cyclone Fani

According to an official release, Odisha chief secretary Aditya Phadi called his Andhra Pradesh counterpart L V Subrahmanyam and expressed his gratitude to the AP government and the services extended by RTGS.

The Odisha government on Friday thanked the Andhra Pradesh government for its timely support through Real Time Governance Society (RTGS) which helped minimise loss to properties and human lives in the super cyclone Fani.

The Odisha government on Friday thanked the Andhra Pradesh government for its timely support through Real Time Governance Society (RTGS) which helped minimise loss to properties and human lives in the super cyclone Fani.

According to an official release, Odisha chief secretary Aditya Phadi called his Andhra Pradesh counterpart L V Subrahmanyam and expressed his gratitude to the AP government and the services extended by RTGS. “The Odisha government praised the efficiency and accuracy of the RTGS,” the official release said.

RTGS, whose command and control system is located in Andhra Pradesh secretariat at Amaravati, has been continuously monitoring the movement of Fani right from the day of its formation and sending regular alerts to the people as well as the government machinery.

“Ever since it was found that cyclone Fani was moving towards Odisha coast, the RTGS volunteered to extend its support to Odisha and have been interacting with the Odisha government on a regular basis, sending alerts to that state from time to time. We formed a WhatsApp group with Odisha chief secretary and district collectors of the affected districts and shared the forecast of Fani. This helped the Odisha government in stepping up its preparedness well in advance,” RTGS chief executive officer Ahmad Babu said.

He said the RTGS had most advanced alert mechanism in the state, which was helpful to the state in minimising the damage and human loss of lives during the calamities. “In the current scenario, we introduced Intra Circle Roaming (ICR) in the cyclone-affected mandals so that there was no mobile network breakdown by coordinating with all mobile service providers. With this, we could continuously be in touch with all the affected people without any trouble,” he said.