Gear up to fight chemical terror attack: Delhi CM

New Delhi, Apr 25: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today urged disaster management agencies to develop appropriate strategies to counter the fallout of possible chemical attacks by terrorists and put in place a mechanism for effective community response to such emergencies.

Inaugurating the national workshop on Chemical and Industrial Disaster Management organised by FICCI in association with the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, she said ''chemicals being used by terrorists as a weapon is a very near reality and we have to find ways to tackle the imminent menace.'' Ms Dikshit told management experts to look at smaller industrial disasters that kept happening daily in samll scale units across the country.

This could only be done through sharing of knowledge and information and close partnership amongst industry bodies, specially academic institutions and organisations such as the National Disaster Management Authority, she said.

The Chief Minister advised business and manufacturing unit owners to make preventive management of disasters an integral part of the overall management practices.

Companies also needed to build awareness in the community on how to deal with the after-effects of industrial and chemical disasters, she added.

UNI