THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:A Union Home Ministry proposal to develop specialist teams in response to various types of disasters in disaster-prone states is yet to see the light of the day in Kerala even after 15 years since the order was issued.
In an order issued on 28th April, 2003, the Home Ministry informed the state that it has set aside four battalions from CISF and ITBP for this purpose and identified national-level training institutions for training. The order entailed Kerala to identify a state-level training institution and declare it as a nodal institution for search and rescue in the state.
The Centre will impart training to a selected team of instructors who will be deputed to a national training institution for undergoing training for trainers’ courses in search and rescue and medical-first response. After training, they should remain posted in the training institution for a minimum of three years so that the training does not go waste. The state government should also identify one/two coys/a battalion as per the requirement from the police/state armed police to be converted into specialist disaster response team. This coy/battalion will undergo training in search and rescue/disaster response at the state training institution. This team, strengthened with additional staff like doctors, structural engineers, paramedical staff, etc., will have special uniforms, equipment etc.
The order has also stated that 10 percent of the allocation under the CRF can be used for procurement of equipment for search and rescue teams.But nothing has happened in the state, except the state identifying the ‘Police Training College’ Thiruvananthapuram, as the training institute of the state and 12 trainers for undergoing the training in 2005.
Since the Union Home Ministry has made it clear that training can be started only after the procurement of equipment for search and rescue team, the revenue (disaster management) department had been asked to arrange training equipment for the designated state nodal institute. Thereafter, nothing happened despite disasters like Tsunami, Ockhi, drought, deluge, and landslides killing hundreds of people in the state.
A highly placed government source told Express it was very unfortunate the state couldn’t form a special team for response to disasters.
After the Ockhi disaster, a proposal to form a special team having at least 600 members has been handed over to the state government, for which Rs 30 crore is required in the first phase. But it is yet to get the sanction from the state government. At least two to three years are required to train and form a full-fledged team, he said.
A state like Kerala cannot afford setting aside the proposal endlessly without taking a decision on it considering the fact that the topography of the state is prone to natural disasters, and the KSEB alone handles around 58 dams including 30 large reservoirs in Kerala.