Operating from Punjab; NDRF HQs to be stationed permanently in Samba district

Saroor
Jammu, Dec 06: With a motive to deploy trained personnel in the disaster hit areas, the Government of India for the first time, will be establishing a permanent station of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Official sources said that the NDRF headquarters battalion will be coming up in Samba to augment disaster management preparations in Jammu and Kashmir.
They revealed that the Administrative Council has also transferred 568 kanals of land in Samba to the NDRF during a meeting chaired by the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.
“The NDRF battalion presently is functioning from Ladowal in neighbouring Punjab for the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh,” official sources said.
Sources said that to minimize the casualties with immediate evacuation and prompt action, the NDRF is soon being set up in the Union Territory having full-fledged hi-tech gadgets equipped station to equip the hilly belts, which are much prone to avalanches, snow storms and the plains witnessing floods, landslides in which many people as well as security personnel lost their lives.
“To make the NDRF personnel familiar with different challenges of disaster, the Mountaineering Rescue Team (MRT) team of Jammu and Kashmir Police has also imparted training to nearly 50 NDRF men in the hilly areas of Samba district,” sources said.
They added that the trainees were exposed to various new techniques apart from climbing and scaling the mountains, trekking, water bodies and other skilled activities, adding, “the NDRF team comprising various parts of the country underwent rigorous training and were made well known to the type of climatic challenges and disasters often reported in parts of Jammu and Kashmir.”
“The batch of the NDRF trained by professional and local teams of the Jammu and Kashmir Police and besides climatic factors was also made aware about the topography and the physical strength required acting promptly during the challenges they may face,” they said.
“The trainees have learnt a lot of skills like setting up Bailey bridge, ropeway connectivity in mountains, rescue and evacuation and much more. The NDRF men are equipped with the latest techniques and are now capable of performing effectively at the time of urgency,” official sources said.
They added that Jammu and Kashmir is already a part of the Area of Operation of NDRF but the teams earlier were not permanently stationed in any part of the region and used to operate from Ludhiana.
“In next few months, NDRF building will be established in the centrally located Samba district for swift action,” sources asserted.