The Delhi government has speed up the process to raise a State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) for efficient and quick response to natural and man made calamities, in the wake of recent Satya Niketan building collapse incident that claimed seven lives.
In a meeting of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta with senior National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) officials at the Delhi Secretariat, necessary inputs were gathered for the state-of-the-art SDERF team, the CMO Delhi said on Thursday.
The NDRF officials briefed the chief minister on various aspects of setting up the disaster response force in Delhi. They said a battalion of the SDRF could be raised in Delhi, comprising upto 1,100 personnel, it said in a statement.
The battalion would function under the state government and in the event of a disaster, would be able to reach the site quickly and carry out effective relief and rescue operations, the chief minister said.
The NDRF would provide the necessary training to personnel of the proposed SDRF. It would also assist with specialised equipment, keeping in mind Delhi’s geographical conditions and local requirements, the CMO said.
The chief minister directed officials to share a list of disaster management equipment and details of its storage with the departments concerned so that the equipment can be made available immediately in the event of an accident or disaster.
After raising the SDRF, the Delhi government will also provide specialised training to its fire department staff and Civil Defence volunteers so that local manpower has the necessary skills and can contribute to relief and rescue operations with better coordination during disasters, Gupta said As Delhi is India’s capital and several important institutions are located in the city, presence of NDRF personnel in Central, North and South Delhi is also necessary, officials of the force said.
The NDRF personnel remain deployed in Outer Delhi areas where the force has land at present. The Delhi government has land that could be made available for this purpose and the chief minister directed the officials of departments concerned to take immediate action in the matter.
The government is decisively moving forward in the direction of ensuring that Delhi has its own trained, capable, and rapid response mechanism in the event of any disaster, the CMO said.
The chief minister expressed gratitude to the NDRF team on behalf of Delhi residents, for the promptness and coordination with which it worked during the relief and rescue operation at Satya Niketan.
Delhi Chief Secretary Rajiv Verma, NDRF Director General Piyush Anand, Inspector General Narendra Bundela and senior officers from various departments attended the meeting.
Gupta said that setting up an SDRF in Delhi had been a long-standing requirement. Most states in the country have already established their own SDRFs.
For a densely populated metropolitan city like Delhi, having its own SDRF is also the need of the hour. This important arrangement could not take shape during the tenure of previous governments for various reasons, she stated.
