On the sidelines of Indian Railway Civil Defence Conference 2013, held on November 22 in Ministry of Railways, Rail Bhawan, Subodh Jain, member (engineering) presented President’s Home Guard and Civil Defence Medals to Udayan P Bhange, senior technician and Pt CDI/South East Central Railway and VV Marathe, senior CDI/South Western Railway.
These railway employees have actively participated in civil defence activities and were selected for this year’s President’s Home Guard and Civil Defence Medals as recognition of their meritorious services. The conference was also attended by Pradeep Kumar, additional member (civil engineering)/Railway Board and Alok Kumar, executive director/civil engineering (general), Railway Board, Aseervatham Achary, deputy director/CE-I and Sanjay Kumar, section officer/CE-I.
While congratulating the awardees for their exemplary services, Subodh Jain emphasised the importance of civil defence activities in Indian Railways especially during the period of natural calamity and also during unfortunate incidents of railway accidents. He also remarked that how at the time of railway accidents, large number of volunteers trained in search and rescue, fire fighting, basic life support, emergency welfare services, disposal of dead etc, assist the Indian Railways in organising service groups for dealing with public concerns at the accident site. The civil defence unit of Railways has played a very viable and potent role not only during train accidents but also during natural disasters such as tsunami in South India and the Himalayan tsunami in Uttarakhand.
Civil defence in India has been established 55 years ago. Initially, it was established for the protection of community and national assets during war emergencies. Railways have always played a major role in transporting military personnel and war equipment to the warfront making it a vulnerable target for the enemy air force. The civil defence in Railways has been objectively organised for achieving the goals of saving life and property, minimising damage after the event, maintaining continuity of production centers and raising public morale. The deliberated on various issues related to implementation of civil defence policy, suggestions on specific issues and for co-ordinating with zonal railways/PUs etc, each of which undertake duties not only during wartime but also during peacetime.