UP gets one battalion of Special Response Force

Lucknow, July 27 (UNI) National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will deploy a battalion of Special Response Force (SRF) to deal with any manmade or natural disaster in Uttar Pradesh.

''The battalion would be kept as reserve at Noida to deal with any situation,'' NDMA vice-chairman General (Retd) N C Vij said here today while addressing a news conference.

Altogether eight SRF battalions to deal with disasters would be raised in the country, including the one to be stationed at Noida, he added.

Noida was selected due to its industrial populace. The SRF would be trained to rush anywhere in UP in case of emergency. He claimed UP government had also shown interest in raising a battalion of SRF to deal with any disaster.

''In the next two months, a special exercise on chemical disaster would be conducted in Noida to see the preparedness of the sleuths, while later on an exercise on fire-disaster would be undertaken at Gurgaon,'' he maintained.

The vice-chairman said a National Disaster Response Fund and a National Disaster Mitigation Fund would be raised to finance disastor management schemes in the country.

Claiming India needed a good disaster management group to deal with crisis, General Vij said system of early warnings in case of natural disaster should be more effective, while ground rehersal was necessary for training people.

Earlier, General Vij along with two NDMA members met Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and apprised him of the initiatives taken by it in disaster management.

Mr Yadav also narrated the steps taken up by the state in this regard, including training of junior engineers and fire fighters.

The CM mentioned the strategy adopted for floods in the eastern parts of the state. State Revenue and Relief Minister Ambika Choudhury was also present on the occasion.

During the day, the NDMA members visited Bahriach, where they got a glimpse of the disaster management on floods.

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