12-day residential training of community volunteers on disaster response
Aapda Mitra: In 1st phase, 1200 volunteers from 18 districts take part; state targets training another 7,300 by this year-end
Kolkata: The state Disaster Management and Civil Defence department has started a 12-day residential training of community volunteers as part of upscaling of 'Aapda Mitra' scheme.
The training will equip those volunteers associated with civil defence, NCC etc to immediately respond to their community's needs in the aftermath of a disaster, thereby enabling them to undertake basic relief and rescue tasks during emergency situations such as floods, flash floods etc.
In the first phase, 1200 volunteers from 18 districts are participating in this training programme. The state has set a target of upscaling 7,300 such volunteers by December 31, 2022, in 23 districts.
State Disaster Management and Civil Defence minister Javed Ahmed Khan inaugurated the programme at Kolkata on Thursday in presence of Dushyant Nariyala, Principal Secretary of the department and other senior officials.
The volunteers joining the training programme are being provided with Emergency Response Kits, booklets on the subject and uniforms. Certificates will be awarded to all after the successful completion of the programme.
The 'Aapda Mitra' volunteers will also avail of Rs 5 lakh insurance in case of death while performing their duties.
Trained teams will be set up even in the remote districts of the state with these volunteers, a senior official of the department said.
