Vijayawada: Union home minister Amit Shah will be the chief guest at the 20th Foundation Day celebrations of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) near Gannavaram in Krishna district on Sunday. On this occasion, he will also inaugurate some projects and lay the foundation stone for some others, collectively worth around 220 crore.
Shah reached Vijayawada on Saturday night, and later visited chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu’s residence in Undavalli. He will inaugurate the campuses of three important centres on Sunday, including the southern campus of National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), the 10th Battalion of NDRF, and the Regional Response Centre (RRC) in Supaul (ninth battalion). While NDRF is taking a leading role in disaster response, NIDM is making significant contributions in human resource development, capacity building, training, research, documentation, and policy formulation.
The Union home minister will also lay the foundation stone for a new integrated indoor shooting range at the National Police Academy in Hyderabad, where IPS probationary officers will be trained in firing skills. This shooting range will be 50m long with 10 lanes, allowing ten individuals to practice firing simultaneously.
The shooting range will be operational in all weather conditions, fully automated, and technologically advanced. It is being constructed at a cost of 27 crore. The state-of-the-art technology of this range will be in line with international standards, and it will be a unique facility among all police organisations in the country.
Piyush Anand, director general of NDRF, said that the 10th Battalion of the NDRF has set an extraordinary example of dedication, efficiency, and professionalism in the field of disaster management. Since its formation, the battalion has participated in over 800 missions, saving the lives of more than 15,000 people and evacuating over one lakh citizens to safe locations.
According to Rajendra Ratnoo, executive director of NIDM, under the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vision@2047, both NIDM and NDRF will be playing crucial roles in making India disaster-resistant and strengthening its disaster risk reduction system. While the NDRF is taking a leading role in disaster response, NIDM is making significant contributions in human resource development, capacity building, training, research, documentation, and policy formulation.
Ratnoo further added that in the 2016 Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR), PM Modi outlined a 10-point agenda for disaster risk reduction, which continues to guide India’s disaster management policy. In line with the 10-point agenda given by the Prime Minister, the Indian Universities and Institutions Network for Disaster Risk Reduction (IUINDRR-NIDM) has been established under the auspices of the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM). The aim of this network is to highlight the role of education, research, and training in building disaster resilience, and to develop model curricula for integrating disaster risk reduction (DRR) at various levels.
To meet the needs of the southern part of the country, the Centre established the southern campus of NIDM in Krishna district. This campus has been partially operational since May 2023, and in a short span of time, more than 44 training programmes have been organised, with over 2,130 stakeholders trained in various aspects of disaster management.
