Uttarakhand govt okays 2 panels, special unit for crisis response

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand Cabinet on Monday cleared proposals for the setting up of two committees for disaster management and a specialised disaster response force to deal with natural calamities in the state.

The two committees for disaster management one for sanctioning, the other for monitoring ? received the nod at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar told reporters. The above panels would be the only ones to be set up for disaster management in the state, Kumar added. A State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) has already been constituted in Uttarakhand under the chairmanship of the chief minister. Handing out further details, Kumar said that the principal secretary (finance) will head the sanctioning committee which can clear projects of up to Rs 5 crore. For projects going beyond that budget, SDMA would be the sanctioning body, he added. The chief secretary himself would be heading the monitoring panel which will keep an eye on the progress and quality of projects sanctioned. The Cabinet also gave its go-ahead for a specialised State Disaster Response Force to deal with natural calamities, Kumar said. Six companies of SDRF will be raised out of which two each will be stationed in the Kumaon and Garhwal regions while the remaining two companies would be rotated as per the requirement. As a first step, two units are to be raised for the the force which will be headquartered in Dehradun, he said. Apart from drafting in police personnel, recruitments for SDRF will also be made from outside, he said. The upper age limit for recruitment into SDRF will be 45 years after which the personnel will be sent back to the police force. PTI