Technology developed by DRDO for defence purposes can also be used to meet civilian needs: Bhamre

Technology developed by DRDO for defence purposes can also be used to meet civilian needs as there is a requirement to link safety and security to deal with instances of firefighting more effectively, Union Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre said.

Speaking at a workshop on 'Fire Safety Technologies and Services Workshop' at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) headquarters, Bhamre said the idea of making technology useful for all state departments is being explored.

"There is a dire need to link safety with security and the technology developed by DRDO for defence purposes can also be used to meet civilian needs to deal with instances of firefighting more effectively," he said.

He said the technology developed would be under Make in India initiative that could gradually be exported to other countries too.

DRDO chairman G Satheesh Reddy said right now what is being developed by the state agency is for defence forces but the technology can be modified to be used for fire services.

He also said DRDO is in the process of developing technology that would help in rescue operations from borewells but did not elaborate further on it.

"We also need to have our own standards in fire and explosive safety because prevention is better. We need to lay out our standards very clearly," he said.

He requested representatives from the fire department in the meeting to come out with specific requirements that could be taken forward by DRDO.

D K Shami, Directorate General of Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guards, said the fire department need technology and new equipment to save lives.

"There is a 65 per cent shortage of fire stations. We need a manpower of 6 lakh and have 60,000. There is also 83 per cent shortage of appliances. We need India-made equipment and that is where the research and development of DRDO comes into picture," Shami said.

"I request DRDO to develop our own standards. We should not blindly follow NFPA (National Fire Protection Association) standards and develop our own standard," he said.

"We are very poor in implementing latest technology. It is a long drawn process to procure any technology. We need cooperation from all sectors for it," Shami added.

The workshop was organised by the Centre for Fire, Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES), a lab of DRDO, with an aim to sensitise the state fire services and users on the use of risk evaluation, mitigation and elimination of fire-related accidents and adopt the technologies developed by DRDO. An exhibition of products and technologies developed by CFEES was also organised on the sidelines of the workshop.

The inaugural session of the workshop was followed by technical presentations, panel discussions and product demonstrations.