Uttarakhand may arm its newly raised State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) with Guerrilla personnel which are specially trained in mountain warfare.
It is worth mention here that the State Government realised to have this kind of specially trained force which can deal with tough geographical conditions of the Himalayan State and tackle the natural disaster problems, when it had to experience a devastating monsoon rain this year in which the hill State lost a huge number of lives and properties.
Reiterating his Government’s commitment to put in place a strong disaster relief mechanism, Chief Minister on the sidelines of the foundation stone laying ceremony of the BSF and CRPF here on Monday said that the SDRF will have to be armed with specially trained forces i.e. guerrilla forces which have expertise in dealing with disaster like situation in mountain State like Uttarakhand.
Keeping in view our past experiences we have realised that there should be a specially trained force put in place which could help provide prompt relief to the needy in tougher conditions, he added.
Besides, we are also trying to equip our disaster management apparatus with all kind of state of the art weather alert system like installing Doppler Radars, he added.
It is to note that the State Government’s announcement to arm the SDRF with specially trained forces has also raised the hopes of thousands of personnel trained under Guerrilla warfare in Uttarakhand who have been demanding to accommodate themselves for long.
It may be recalled that the Uttarakhand Government announced to have one battalion of the SDRF on the lines of the National Disaster Response Force, deploying one company of the SDRF in Rudraprayag, Johimath, Bageshwar and Champawat which are sensitive from natural disaster point of view.
As the State Government had earlier said the SDRF will be formed in a phased manner, but it is to be seen how longs it takes to raise the specially trained SDRF which can help the State Government in disaster management providing quick relief to the needy.