HP’s move to set up disaster response force hanging fire
APATHY Proposal to set up a state disaster response force shuttling from one government to another since 2011
SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh witnessed the worst monsoon this year as floods and landslides wreaked havoc across the state, claiming 340 lives. Things could have been different had the state got a disaster response force which has been hanging fire for several years now.
“Every time a disaster occurs, the state government has to either look up to the army or the National Disaster Response Force for help. It is necessary to have a force in the state that is dedicated and can be moved to a disaster spot at the earliest,” a senior official from the state revenue department requesting anonymity said.
It was in 2011 that the National Disaster Management Authority had asked all the states to constitute their own state disaster response force to tackle disasters.
But the HP government’s proposal to set up a state disaster response force (SDRF) has only been shuttling from one office to another.
In 2011, the Prem Kumar Dhumal-led state government had discussed plans to set up a SDRF, but it remained only on paper.
After 2013 flash flood in Kinnaur district, the Congress regime, headed by Virbhadra Singh, had asked the revenue department to speed up the process for setting up of SDRF but to no avail.
Though the state police had then planned to raise three companies of SDRF at Pandoh in Mandi district, Dharamshala and Shimla. However, the plan couldn’t materialise.
This year, rains wreaked havoc in the state, forcing chief minister Jai Ram Thakur to once again think about setting up the force. As many as 340 people were killed in the rain that triggered flash floods and landslides, while property worth ₹1,500 crore was damaged.
However, now the revenue department’s State Disaster Management Authority had prepared a detailed plan for setting up a response force comprising a team of 350 personnel.
The government proposes to draw 50 police personnel each from the six Indian reserve battalions in the state for this force.
Though from the sources it has been learnt that the police have refused to spare its men for the SDRF, citing shortage in the department.
The government has now proposed to recruit personnel from home guards and fire department, who will be trained to tackle disasters.
Two weeks ago, when scores of travellers were stuck in Lahaul and Spiti after a sudden snowfall in the region, the state government had sought the help of the armed forces for the rescue operations.
Himachal is also prone to earthquakes as it falls in seismic zone five. Calamities such as cloudbursts, flash floods, landslides, forest fires and avalanches are common in the hill state.