Odisha gets 10 more units of Disaster Rapid Action Force

Bhubaneswar: Prone to natural disasters, Odisha government has raised 10 more units of the Disaster Rapid Action Force to strengthen the disaster management system of the state.

According to Special Relief Commissioner P K Mohapatra, a state-level empowered committee meeting, chaired by Chief Secretary A P Padhi, has sanctioned Rs 70 crore for the purpose.

He said 10 units had been created about a decade ago and with the addition of 10 more such units, any emergency situation can be tackled.

Padhi also directed the Odisha disaster management committee to improve the efficiency of the fire officers and block level officers.

It was also decided to install rain forecast and weather forecast equipments at blocks and panchayat level.

Padhi also instructed the officials to link the information received from these systems with the crop insurance system.

Earlier, it was decided to set up three fire fighting forces and allocate Rs eight crore for purchasing 15 varieties of equipment, SRC Mohapatra said.

It also decided to set up Early Warning Dissemination System in the coastal districts by April, 2017. There will be 122 automatic alarm systems along 480 km-long coast through the project, Padhi said.

"The project will warn people, residing in the coastal regions, about tsunami, flood and cyclone directly from the State Control Centre," Mohapatra said.

A total 600 new automatic rain and weather forecasting equipments will be installed for drought management in the state, the SRC said adding at present around 502 such equipments have been installed.

He said that a proposal was also placed to increase the number of cyclone shelters. The proposal is for adding 100 more flood-cum-cyclone shelters. The state is already equipped with 1,500 cyclone shelters.