NDRF to have four new battalions

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team carrying out relief works in Velachery, one of the worst flood-hit areas in Chennai in 2015. (PTI Photo)

Country’s premier disaster response and rescue force NDRF is likely to raise four new battalions with around 4,000 personnel as the Home Ministry is finalising a plan to this effect. The four new battalions of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) will be stationed in Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

The Home Ministry is finalising the plan for raising the new battalions and a proposal is expected to be sent to the Union Cabinet for its approval soon, a Home Ministry official said. The NDRF will start the process of hiring around 4,000 personnel (1,000 personnel in each battalion).

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The disaster response force currently has 12 battalions stationed in different parts of the country for easy deployment during natural disasters and other emergencies. The force is specially trained to deal with calamities like earthquakes, floods, cyclones and man-made disasters.

The NDRF had earned laurels for its services during floods in Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Tamil Nadu; cyclone in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh and earthquake in Nepal. A team of NDRF was even sent to Japan to help authorities there in handling the Tsunami a few years ago.