To review the progress of Kedarnath Mahotsav and the performance of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Chief Minister Harish Rawat convened a stock-taking meeting in Dehradun on Wednesday. In course of the meeting, he asked NIM (Nehru Institute of Mountaineering) which has remained engaged in rebuilding Kedarnath shrine to complete things before the shrine opens for the pilgrims later this year.
CM also said that they all must be prepared for any exigency. “There is no room for complacency. We should constitute a force with the help of SDRF and NIM which can take on any severe natural calamity and can rescue the people and provide them with relief on a war footing if things so warrant,” he said.
He further stressed on training for the specialised tasks and on completing formation of SDRF. He said that their training modules should be put into place at the earliest. “SDRF should be headquartered in Pantnagar for Kumaon division on the same pattern as we have headquartered it at Jolly Grant for Garhwal division. The land to house it would be no problem,” he said while appreciating the works done by both SDRF and NIM in the gigantic task of rebuilding Kedarnath.
CM said in case a serious natural calamity befalls the State they seek help from the Centre and Delhi-based rescue and other teams. “But what happens is that the help reaches us 48 to 72 hours after the disaster. Besides, they take three to four days to reach the remote areas. This is why we should develop our SDRF or other agencies in such a way so that they start work immediately after a calamity occurs. In view of this, we need to develop emergency helipad in the remotest areas so that we can send relief and rescue teams at the earliest. To ensure road connectivity in remote areas, the State government has empowered district panchayat to build road up to one to two kilometers,” CM said.
Stressing on training the local youth, he said they must be trained on how to cope up with any exigency, to rescue people in case any disaster happens.
“The State Government has earmarked Rs 20 lakh to the DMs of each of the districts. We have allocated funds for making available heavy machines and equipment to deal with exigency for the areas which were affected during the natural calamity 2013. We are ready to provide any help one may seek on the matter of taking on disaster and its aftermath,” CM said.
During the meeting, among those present included chief principal secretary Rakesh Sharma, secretary Finance Amit Negi, DGP BS Sidhu and IG Sanjay Gunjyal.