VIJAYAWADA: Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu laid the foundation-stone for the southern campus of the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) at Kondapavuluru village of Gannavaram mandal on Tuesday and said the Centre will help the southern states build infrastructure to tackle disasters.NIDM is a premier institute of the Government of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs. In pursuance of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014, the ministry established a southern campus in the State.
Addressing the gathering, Naidu said disasters disrupt people’s lives and jeopardise the entire society and economy of the country. He said India needs a disaster-resilient infrastructure and provide lifeline services to the most vulnerable communities. “NIDM will help southern states build infrastructure to tackle multiple disaster challenges. This campus will focus on ground level issues,” he said.
The campus will function to support the goal of resilience and capacity-building of various stakeholders through its programmes which will be designed and developed with special emphasis on disasters, specific to southern states. “South Indian geography has played a vital role in designing the NIDM programmes especially those related to coastal areas, rocky terrain of Deccan Plateau and the Western Ghats. It would be vital for the NIDM’s new campus to focus more on the needs of the South Indian hazard profile and develop it as a centre of excellence,” he said.
The State government has allotted 10 acres of land to NIDM for establishment of its permanent southern campus at Kondapavuluru village. The Union government has approved construction of the south campus at a total cost of Rs 36.76 crore. The interim set-up of NIDM southern campus is being operated from the Andhra Pradesh Human Resources Development Institute (APHRDI) campus at Bapatla.Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, Andhra Pradesh Law Minister Kollu Ravindra and other government officials also attended.