Ham Radio training for civil defence volunteers to combat calamities

KOLKATA: In a bid to ensure seamless connectivity even to the remotest locations in Sunderbans in South 24-Parganas, the civil defence volunteers on Sunday started receiving training in Ham Radio communication. About 60 civil defence volunteers hailing from interior blocks of Gosaba, Patharpratima, Sagar, Namkhana and Mathurapur will be trained online on how to stay connected using radio waves, when the normal communication system gets cut-off due to natural calamities.

"In the last two years there have been 3 to 4 severe cyclonic storms that have hit the coastal belt of South 24-Parganas. We have found out that connectivity has been jeopardised after such disasters. There have been several meetings at the administrative level on bridging this connectivity issue and finally we have decided to train our civil defence volunteers in communication through Ham Radio. The West Bengal Radio Club (WBRC) which has worked with the district administration during such natural calamities has been roped in for the training," Sourav Chatterjee, Additional Deputy Controller (ADC), Civil Defence , South 24-Parganas said.

Ambarish Nag Biswas, the custodian and secretary of WBRC said the online training of three months will be conducted by Indian Academy of Communication and Disaster Management, the training and development wing of WBRC. Classes will be conducted every Sunday by Dr. Pasupati Mondal.

Dipak Giri, a civil defence volunteer from Mahendranagar in Pathapratima was very excited after attending his first class. "There are a lot of problems related to connectivity in my residence. So, I climbed up a tree near my residence to attend the virtual class. I am hopeful that after successful completion of the training, I will be able to stand by the people in our village in times of natural calamities in a much more effective manner,"Giri said.