NDRF to raise four more battalions

: The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) will soon raise four more battalions, adding to the existing 12, and will also be modernised to meet international standards, its Director General Sanjay Kumar said Wednesday.

The four new battalions would be stationed in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and NCR Delhi, he said.

Addressing a press conference after attending a Sainik Sammelan of the NDRF 10th Battalion at the Acharya Nagarjuna University campus here, they have also proposed to have exclusive women contingents within the battalions to take care of women during times of distress.

"Ours is a unique force dedicated to humanitarian work. Disaster response has to be of the highest order and for that we are modernising our force on par with international standards. Our effort is on minimising the response time to ensure relief reaches (the affected areas) fast," Sanjay Kumar said.

NDRF teams have been participating in international forums that was giving them good exposure on various aspects of disaster response and management, he added.

NDRF teams were deployed in Kathmandu (earthquake relief) and recently in Japan where they carried out exemplary work, he said adding they matched international standards.

Sanjay Kumar said a revolving fund of Rs 250 crore has been provisioned for the NDRF to create a National Disaster Response Reserve in all its battalions.

"The reserve will essentially have necessary relief material like readymade food, medicines, etc. to be distributed during distress in calamity-hit areas. Here too the effort is to minimise the response time so that required help reaches the people in time," he added.

Vast improvement in early warning systems and weather forecast systems was helping the NDRF in pre-positioning the rescue and relief teams, he pointed out.

Besides their regular operations, the DG said, the NDRF was also training communities in flood management, resource mapping and training of children on the dos and don'ts during calamities.

"It is very good to invest in (building) disaster resilience and mitigation. Some states have incorporated disaster management as part of the syllabus in secondary schools," he said.

Construction work on the NDRF Academy at Nagpur set up on merger of the National Civil Defence College was progressing fast, he said, adding buildings of NDRF Regional Response Centres at Bengaluru and Visakhapatnam were also being constructed.

"The 10th Battalion's new headquarters is also coming up at Kondapavuluru near Vijayawada with construction of five buildings on in full swing. They will be ready in a year's time and we will begin our training and refresher courses," Sanjay Kumar said.

NDRF 10th Battalion Commandant Zahid Khan, Deputy Commandant Love Kumar and other senior officials were present.