Shillong, Aug. 21: The Union home ministry is on the job to provide the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel with the latest equipment to enable them to respond to any calamity.
This was disclosed here today by Union minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju, who rushed to Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh and to Upper Assam, to assess the flood-ravaged areas, after torrential rains wreaked havoc in the Northeast over the past few days.
Rijiju was here to address the inaugural function of the summit for the development of cooperatives in the Northeast.
Stating that several villages have been inundated by floodwaters in Upper Assam and in Pasighat, he said the NDRF and paramilitary forces have already been deployed for relief and rescue operations.
He said the governments of the affected states in the region and the Centre would have to work together in such crises.
Interacting with reporters, Rijiju said the ministry was on the job to equip the NDRF personnel with modern gadgets and other instruments so that they would be able to respond to any adverse situation.
"We are planning to equip them (NDRF personnel) with all modern gadgets and instruments so that they can reach and operate in any situation. There are some instances where we did not have the equipment to really get inside. We need more equipment. The home ministry is on the job. We are going to get latest equipment, which will be handy," he said.
Moreover, he said the presence of NDRF personnel in the Northeast has been increased with the creation of another centre in Arunachal Pradesh.
In April, the Union cabinet had approved the conversion of two additional battalions of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) into the NDRF and for strengthening existing NDRF battalions.
The objective of the conversion of these two additional battalions into the NDRF was to provide a response to eastern Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh during any natural and man-made disaster and to enhance the capability of the existing NDRF battalions.
The placement of two NDRF battalions at Varanasi and Arunachal Pradesh is expected to fill up the vast gap in deployment of the NDRF.
Rijiju said the NDRF centre in Arunachal Pradesh would take care of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram while the Guwahati centre would look after the remaining states of the region (Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura).
