Assam plans to train 1.6 lakh persons in disaster management

The Assam government has taken up an ambitious plan to train 1.6 lakh persons in disaster management across the state to handle any situation whenever natural calamity strikes.
The government is also investing heavily to build a strong infrastructure to better manage natural disasters such as flood and earthquake in the state.
"We have already formed 16,500 Village Land Management and Conversation Committees across the state and 500 more are in the pipeline.
We training 1.6 lakh people to handle any disaster situation in Assam," Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) Chief Executive Officer Pramod Kumar Tiwari said at a press conference here.

When a natural disaster strikes, the government alone cannot handle the entire situation and public involvement is needed and that is why this initiative was taken, he said.
"We hope to complete the training by February so that the entire network is ready before next monsoon," Tiwari said.

ASDMA has also sanctioned to purchase three mechanised boats for the state along with 10 rafts for Guwahati to evacuate people during floods, he added.
Besides, State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) is raising its third company to have more strength during crisis period.
The government is investing Rs 6 crore to develop a separate communication system, based on high, very high and ultra high frequencies, in case of failures of mobile and landline services during such time.

The Home Minister said international cooperation in the
field of disaster management preparedness is also being enhanced.
The Home Ministry is organising a meeting of Ministers for Disaster Management of BRICS countries on August 22-23 in Udaipur, Rajasthan, to develop closer cooperation amongst these countries.
India has taken the leadership role by committing to host the Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction in November, 2016.
The members also raised the issues ranging from forecasting of floods, existing institutional arrangements, conduct of regular training and mock exercises, allocation of funds to states, cloudburst, criteria for assistance to farmers, utilisation of funds, management of water bodies and flooding in urban areas.

Besides Singh, Ministers of State for Home Affairs Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary and Kiren Rijiju and Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi were present in the meeting.