Himachal Pradesh to have SDRF on lines of NDRF

SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh government will establish a state disaster response force (SDRF) on the lines of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to generate a prompt and efficient response at the time of disasters.
While chairing the 9th meeting of state executive committee (SEC) in Shimla on Wednesday, chief secretary BK Agarwal said that state is one of the most multi-hazard prone states of the country and faces various hazards like geological hazards, earthquakes and landslides, hydrological hazards such as floods, flash floods and glacial outbursts, besides meteorological hazards, hailstorms, droughts and cloudbursts.Thus it was essential to constitute SDRF in state.
Agarwal said that state disaster response force, consisting of three companies from police, will be raised for dealing with disasters and emergencies. He said that each company will have 100 personnel each and for effective response at the time of disaster SDRF stations will be set up in Mandi, Arki, and Mubarakpur. It was also approved to constitute a state disaster mitigation fund to take preventive measures for reduction of disasters.
He said that the SDRF will be under overall supervision of the department of revenue-disaster management government of Himachal Pradesh. He stressed on strengthening volunteers at local level. He said that trainings and mock drills will be conducted at the district level to spread awareness about the various kind of disasters at the grassroots level so that every citizen of the state was well prepared to meet out any eventuality at the time of disaster. He said that local people are the first responders during such situations.
He said that the state executive committee will have the responsibility of implementing the National Plan and State Plan and will act as coordinating and monitoring body for management of disaster in the state. They will be responsible to provide directions to any department regarding any actions to be taken in response to any threatening disaster situation. He assures to provide all the necessary technical assistance to all the district and local authorities for carrying out their functions effectively.
Additional chief secretary (PWD) Manisha Nanda said that to create awareness at school level the SEC gave its approval to launch a new project on school safety to prepare the schools for disasters. She said that in Himachal Pradesh the project was implemented in 200 schools each in Kangra and Kullu districts. Under this project state disaster management authority (SDMA) with State Council of Education Research and Traning (SCERT) and Government College of Teachers Education (GCTE) has provided trainings with the help of District Institute of Education and Tranings DIETs to headmasters, principals and lecturers/PGT and teacher training programmes, students competitive activities at district level.