HP Makes GPS Device Must for Trekkers

The Himachal Pradesh government makes it mandatory for trekkers to carry a GPS device so that they can be provided all possible help in case of any emergency.

SHIMLA: The Himachal Pradesh government on Tuesday made it mandatory for trekkers to carry GPS devices so that they can be provided all possible help in case of any emergency.

Issuing directions to deputy commissioners and officials of other departments through a video conference to review preparedness for the upcoming monsoon season, additional chief secretary Dr. Shrikant Baldi said it is important that trekking and other yantras are restricted during adverse weather conditions and it would be made mandatory for trekkers to have a GPS device so that they can be provided all possible help in case of any emergency.

Advocating dissemination of weather advisories and installation of advance early warning systems in disaster-prone Himachal Pradesh, additional chief secretary Dr Shrikant Baldi said sites have already been identified at Kullu and Dalhousie where these systems would be installed.

Relief and rescue base of NDRF would be set up at Rampur and Mandi, Baldi added.

He said the power authorities have been asked to come up with an adequate system for alerting the public downstream to avoid losses due to the sudden flow of water. He said this early warning system would help shift and evacuate people from vulnerable areas and would be regularly monitored by the Central Water Commission.
He directed the public works department (PWD), municipal corporations, and panchayati raj institutions to take up the work of cleaning/clearing drains, channels, and nullahs in a campaign mode within 15 days.

He said information regarding relief and rescue would be regularly made available to the public through FM channels, print and electronic media, and signboards regarding the availability of satellite would be made available in all the vulnerable areas.

All the district headquarters have already been provided satellite phones, he added.
Baldi said as part of relief and rescue measures, teams of NDRF and SDRF located at different parts of the state in cooperation with regional response centers (local units of ITBP), the Indian Army, and local volunteers have been asked to remain alert.