Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation to set up Disaster Management Group

Kolkata: Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to set up a Disaster Management Group (DMG) soon.

As a preliminary step, a Detailed Project Report (DPR) has been made that was passed during both Mayor-in-Council and Board meeting in BMC. Now, BMC authority is preparing to send the DPR to the Disaster Management department of the state government for sanctioning the amount mentioned in the report.

According to Deputy Mayor of BMC, Tapas Chatterjee, since the inception of BMC, the need of a DMG was felt during several occasions. During the last two years, many trees were uprooted following stormy weathers, blocking several major roads throughout the area. "We have made the DPR and will send it to the state government. Meanwhile, approximately Rs 80 lakh will be used from the BMC fund to buy some equipment. Primarily, workers from the Environment and Conservancy department will be in the team. Later, many others will be recruited specially for this team. They will be trained accordingly," said Chatterjee.

As per the DPR, the cost of setting up the DMG will be around Rs 2 crore. Sources informed that a team of 50 members will formed who will undergo training by the Disaster Management department of the state government. The equipment will be bought as soon as the fund gets sanctioned from the concerned department. "We were planning to create such a group for the last few years. We should be more proactive to tackle such situations to prevent them from occurring," Chatterjee added.