UP to set up State Emergency Response Force

Lucknow, Dec 7: Concerned over the growing incidents of terrorist attacks in the state, the Uttar Pradesh government is mulling to set up a crack force to be named as 'State Emergency Response Force (SERF)'.

The proposal in this regard has been approved in principle while the state government is going ahead with formation of this force, which would be imparted specialised training to deal with terror incidents in a prompt and effective manner.

The force would be under administrative control of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), however, it would have indpendent uniform, logo, motto and working mandate, a highly placed police official told tom the sources here.

The need of such force was necessitated following a spate of terror acts in the state in the form of attacks on Ayodhya temple complex and on Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi, Sharamjeevi Express bomb blast and more recently explosions in the court premises in Varanasi, Faiazabad and state capital of Lucknow.

Six companies of this elite force would be initially raised by UP with each one to have three teams classified as Alert Team, Administrative Team and Training Team. Each team would have 45 members, he said.

The overall thought behind the maneuver is to fulfil the requirements of National Disaster Management under which a 'National Emergency Response Force (NERF)' has already been set up by converting eight battallions - two each from Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police (CRP), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

The state government has declared Training Institute of Fire Service at Unnao as nodal training unit and Rs 30 crore has been sanctioned to Fire Service in UP for creating the infrastructure.

Various tenets of communication, relief and rehabilitation, medical services and weaponary training would form part of the training to be given to SERF personnel, the official said. Traning modules for Collapsed Structure Search and Rescue (CSSR) and Medical First Responder (MFR) courses were being prepared for the training, he added.

As part of the infrastructure development, the Emergency Operation Centres /Mobilisation Protocols and Regional Response Centres are also being set up.

The SERF would be headed by Director General (DG) or Additional Director General (ADG) rank of officer while each team would have one inspector as Team Commander with fire technicians, para medics, communication experts and dog handlers as members.

UNI