AMARAVATI: Andhra Pradesh government is installing automatic sirens at village secretariats to protect citizens from lightning and floods, a top official said on Tuesday.
A pilot project in one village has already shown excellent results, with sirens operating through ISRO satellite support even without mobile signals, Secretary, Real Time Governance (RTGS), Katamneni Bhaskar, said.
Each system costs around Rs 2 lakh. Statewide implementation would cost about Rs 340 crore, but in the first phase, vulnerable villages will be prioritised at a cost of Rs 10–15 crore, he said, asking the district Collectors to monitor and support this initiative.
Addressing the District Collectors on the second day of the Collectors’ Conference, Bhaskar said that the state government is enhancing disaster preparedness and governance efficiency through RTGS Aware 2.0, advanced data systems, and innovation hubs.
He urged the district Collectors to fully utilise these cutting-edge tools to improve governance at the district level.
Through RTGS Aware 2.0, citizens are being continuously alerted about disasters, cyclones, lightning, and weather changes. Forecasts down to the mandal level, including lightning strikes, heavy rainfall, and reservoir inflows, are being provided in real time.
He said that a dedicated RTGS Aware website has been launched, already widely used by private transport and logistics firms to plan operations. He urged district administrations to leverage this system for greater local impact.
Bhaskar informed that all district-level RTGS centres will be completed by the end of October. Collectors were asked to personally review progress and ensure the timely completion of construction works.
A centralised Data Lake with over 6 petabytes of data from government departments has been created, linked to a real-time Data Lens dashboard. This tool enables Collectors to access district-level data instantly, eliminating duplication of efforts. He instructed that no new data silos be created at the district level and that existing data must be integrated with the central system.