New Delhi, Jun 16 (IANS): With the onset of monsoon, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday held a high-level meeting to review the measures to deal with the flood situation in the country.

A number of decisions were taken during the meeting, including having a new system of coordination between the IMD, the Jal Shakti Ministry, the CWC and the NDRF.

Shah also reviewed the long-term measures for the formulation of a comprehensive and overarching policy to mitigate the perennial flood problems of the country.

The Home Minister directed the officials to continue to strengthen coordination between the Central and state agencies to have a permanent system for forecasting floods and rise in water levels in major catchment zones/ areas of the country.

He advised the Ministry of Jal Shakti to work out a mechanism for the desilting of large dams, which will help in increasing the dam storage capacity and assist in flood control.

The Home Minister also advised the specialised institutions like the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Central Water Commission (CWC) to use state-of-the-art technology and satellite data for more accurate weather and flood predictions.

Shah also called for the immediate formation of an SOP to broadcast IMD warnings on lightning strikes at the earliest through television, FM Radio, SMS and other mediums.

He directed the concerned officials to give maximum publicity to various mobile apps related to weather forecasting like 'Umang', 'Rain Alarm' and 'Damini', developed by the IMD so that their benefits reach the targeted population.

The Damini app triggers warning about lightning strikes three hours in advance which can help reduce losses to life and property.