NDMA should be integral part of Smart City projects, says MoS Hansraj Ahir

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) should be involved in the Smart Cities project right from the conceptualization stage, Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir asserted while inaugurating NDMA’s 12th Foundation Day on Wednesday at Vigyan Bhawan in the national Capital.

In the wake of recent disastrous natural calamities Ahir feels that this will help avert disasters such as the urban flooding phenomenon that recently brought cities like Chennai and Hyderabad to a standstill.

The minister also asked to involve students from reputed institutes such as the IITs that helped safe evacuation of residents of low lying areas during the recent floods in southern India.

Referring to the forthcoming Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR), 2016 that India will host in November, 2016, the Minister said, “We should place before the delegates from all over Asia a state-of-the-art infrastructure including communication network such as the wireless and satellite communication to tackle emergency contingencies in the event of natural and manmade disasters striking us.”

Welcoming the participation of NGOs and delegates from the Indian Council for Agricultrual Research (ICAR), Hansraj Ahir called upon the NDMA to deliberate a strategy to deal with crop epidemics. Recalling that India is a densely populated country with a diverse geography, the minister expressed satisfaction that the country is now better equipped to handle calamities.

On the occasion, Ahir also released a special issue of NDMA’s newsletter ‘Samvad’.

RK Pachnanda, Director General, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), both members od NDMA, Dr. DN Sharma and Lt. General (Retd.) NC Marwah, Mamta Kundra, Joint Secretary, NDMA and Senior Officers of MHA, NDMA, NDRF, Ministry of Defence and as many as 16 States attended the function.