Govt mulls disaster management force
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, October 05 2013 :
In view of Manipur's location in a highly active seismic zone, and also to tackle other natural calamities, the State Government is now considering to set up a separate Disaster Management Res-ponse Force.
The State Govt initiated this step at the instruc-tion of the National Disaster Management Authority to set up Disaster Management Response Force in each and every State, informed an official source.
The question of setting up the force was deliberated at length during a meeting held yesterday which was presided by Chief Secretary PC Law-mkunga and attended by DGP MK Das, Principal Secretary (Home) Niklesh Jha and Prin-cipal Secretary (Disaster Ma- nagement) Suhel Akhtar.
At the national level, India has 10 battalions of Disaster Management Response Force, but only one battalion is reserved for the North East region.
It was after taking due notice of difficulties likely to ensue in the event of any natural disaster that all States were directed to set up their own Disaster Management Response Force.
Manipur has a number of State forces under different names but most of them are engaged in the same work of maintaining law and order.
Reservation of the existing forces for disaster management would be problematic and at the same time, it would be an uphill task to set up a new unit given the sick financial condition of the State, said the official.
In Mizoram, one of its security establishment has been already converted into disaster management force.
141 VDF and Home Gua-rd personnel selected from all districts of Manipur have been already given disaster management training at Manipur Police Training College, Pangei, added the source.