Modi govt achieved disaster management preparedness in five years: Amit Shah

“But with development, disaster risks also grow. So, we have to be prepared to safeguard our installations. I am sure we will achieve that capability,” Shah added.

Earlier, he dedicated the new campus of NFSC spread over 42 acres to the nation. The campus, built at a cost of over Rs 200 crore, had in fact been operational since the past two years.

Shah also laid the foundation for National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Academy.

“Disaster management and fire-fighting had remained a neglected field after Independence. The Narendra Modi government made efforts to bring India at par with the world’s best standards in the two fields in five years and today, the country has achieved the leading position in disaster management,” he said.

Shah also cited the examples of three cyclones that hit the country this year killing only 64 people as against the 1999 Odisha cyclone that claimed 10,000 lives.

“Fire-fighting is a state subject. The state has further delegated it to municipal bodies and Zilla Parishads. So, this particular service is feeling neglected. But NFSC at Nagpur has made us proud by becoming a centre for excellence in training firemen from across the country and even outside,” he said.

“The NDRF Academy, being raised here, will have a facility to create sea-like waves and 80m-deep diving facility. I hope it could be a training centre for all SAARC countries too,” he added.

“The Academy will come up soon and we will inaugurate it before next election, unlike Congress, which would have four different governments to lay the foundation, release funds, build, and then inaugurate anything they planned,” Shah said in a parting kick to Congress.

Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Nityanand Rai, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, M Nageshwar Rao, Director General, Fire Safety, and G S Saini, Director, NFSC also spoke at the event.