7,500 civil defence volunteers in active in Jammu and Kashmir: Official

JAMMU: A total of 7,500 civil defence volunteers were actively engaged in helping the state administration in carrying out developmental activities during peacetime in Jammu and Kashmir, a senior official said today.

"There are 7,500 civil defence volunteers active across the state who in times of peace have been helping the civil administration in enforcing the developmental and other programmes across the state," Principal Secretary (Home) Suresh Kumar said while addressing a function here.

He said the homeguard and civil defence organisations have conducted 250 awareness camps and 41 demonstration programmes on disaster preparedness in various parts of the state to educate the people about the service besides organising 128 special training camps for the volunteers.

"The Chinese aggression in 1962 led to the raising of homeguard and civil defence in Jammu and Kashmir to deal with the internal security of vital installations of the country," he said.

To strengthen the organisation, Kumar assured all help from the state government.