National Disaster Response Force mulling to set up specialised teams to tackle disasters

VIJAYAWADA: National Disaster Response Force is contemplating to set up specialised multi skilled teams to meet the challenges arising out of various disasters, a top official said today.

In addition to the existing teams to mitigate the challenges from natural disasters, the NDRF proposes to set up specialised teams to tackle chemical, biochemical, nuclear, and mountaineering disasters and building collapses.

The initiative would also be taken to provide training in such areas for rescue and rehabilitation work, NDRF Director General Om Prakash Singh told reporters here.

"We also propose to have a dedicated air wing to reach the place of an incident in the shortest period," he said.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh responded positively to a proposal for procuring helicopters, he said.

The NDRF has an MoU with a Swiss company for the training of its dogs for searching people trapped under collapsed buildings. The training is presently underway in Odisha, the DG said.

He also said that they have proposed to provide 25 per cent (of the salary) allowance to the team members of NDRF, which has been deploying personnel from other paramilitary forces, to attract them towards the disaster response agency.

The government has also positively responded towards announcing a gallantry medal for the NDRF personnel and during the Republic Day celebration last month, nine NDRF team members, who were killed in the Uttarakhand disaster in 2012, received such medals posthumously, he said.

The NDRF has now intensively taken up a social awareness campaign on rescue operations for the public and is also training the youth to constitute social disaster response teams, Singh added.