Guntur gets first disaster response station

Vice-Chairman of National Disaster Management Authority NDMA

M Shashidhar Reddy said on Wednesday that the NDRF station and training facility would be ready in 12 to 14 months. This battalion is special because there will be a large team that is trained to also deal in chemical,biological,radiological and nuclear mishaps,besides natural disasters, said Reddy. They will have state-of-the-art search and rescue equipment like breath and heart beat detectors,concrete cutters. There will be a dog squad at the facility to assist the NDRF. Arrangements are being made to move the battalion to Mangalagiri in a phased manner. These personnel are drawn mainly from CRPF.

Earlier,the Centre had sanctioned eight battalions for the NDRF to be stationed at different locations but later two more battalions were sanctioned to be stationed in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar,the two states which are highly vulnerable to cyclones and floods. The Centre allocated Rs 250 crore to set up the 10 permanent NDRF stations.

Currently,the NDMA rushes NDRF teams either from temporary stations in Bhubaneswar or Chennai whenever there is an emergency in the state.

While the NDRF battalion that will be stationed at Mangalagiri is drawn mainly from CRPF,other battalions for NDRF are drawn BSF,CISF and ITBP.