New Delhi: To deal with disaster situations like floods, cyclones and earthquakes, the Government on Friday decided to raise two additional battalions of National
Disaster Response Force (NDRF) at a cost of over Rs 150 crore.
The NDRF battalions will be raised by upgradation of two standard battalions taken from the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) with 1149
personnel each.
While sanctioning Rs 151.58 crore for the two battalions, the Union Cabinet decided that these two will be located at Patna (Bihar) and Vijaywada (Andhra Pradesh), government
sources said.
Disaster response equipments, vehicles, dogs, communication equipment and other essential items will be procured to operationalise these two NDRF battalions.
Locations of Patna and Vijaywada will cut short the response time for immediate intervention by NDRF battalion in a disaster situation like flood, cyclone and earthquake.
It will also help in quick intervention during any disaster or threatening disaster and ensure prompt search, rescue and relief operation, thereby upgrading the government`s capacity to respond effectively and promptly to citizens in distress.
With these two additional battalions the strength of NDRF battalions will reach the mark of ten battalions from the present eight.
NDRF is a multi-disciplinary, multi-skilled and high-tech Force capable of effectively responding to all types of disasters.
It follows the concept of pro-active deployment during any threatening disaster situation to avoid delay in response.
They also prepare the community to mitigate the suffering from disasters by imparting training during the course of their regular familiarisation and community
awareness programmes.
PTI
