Andhra Pradesh to Install Automatic Sirens in Villages for Lightning and Flood Safety

Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh government has begun installing automatic sirens at village secretariats to protect residents from lightning strikes and floods, a senior official announced on Tuesday.

Katamneni Bhaskar, Secretary of Real Time Governance (RTGS), said that a pilot project had already shown encouraging results, with sirens successfully operating through ISRO satellite connectivity even in areas without mobile signals.

Each siren unit costs around ?2 lakh. While statewide implementation would require nearly ?340 crore, the first phase will prioritize disaster-prone villages at an estimated cost of ?10–15 crore, he added. District Collectors have been instructed to closely monitor the initiative.

Speaking at the second day of the Collectors’ Conference, Bhaskar highlighted that the government is strengthening disaster preparedness and governance efficiency through RTGS Aware 2.0, advanced data platforms, and innovation hubs.

RTGS Aware 2.0 provides citizens with real-time alerts on cyclones, floods, lightning, and weather changes, offering forecasts down to the mandal level. A dedicated RTGS Aware website has also been launched, which is already being widely used by private logistics and transport companies to plan operations. Collectors have been urged to leverage the platform for local administration.

By October, all district-level RTGS centres will be operational. Bhaskar said that a centralised Data Lake with more than six petabytes of departmental data has been created, linked to a Data Lens dashboard for instant district-level insights. He stressed that no new data silos should be created at the district level and existing datasets must be integrated into the central system.

To make governance information accessible to citizens, RTGS has also developed an AI-powered single search bar covering over 80 lakh government documents, including Government Orders. The tool supports voice interaction, enabling easy access to information from any department. Collectors were directed to create public awareness about its use.

The government also plans to achieve universal mobile connectivity in tribal and remote areas within six months by setting up new mobile towers in underserved regions.

In addition, Bhaskar asked Collectors to support the upcoming Ratan Tata Innovation Hubs in Amaravati, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Tirupati, Anantapur, and Rajahmundry. These hubs aim to nurture 20,000 startups and generate nearly one lakh jobs for the state’s youth.

“RTGS is not just a monitoring mechanism—it is a people’s tool for disaster preparedness, governance transparency, and innovation. District Collectors must ensure its full use to deliver tangible results for citizens,” Bhaskar emphasized.

With inputs from IANS