HP restarts process to set up state disaster response force

Principal secretary, revenue, Onkar Sharma and director general of police Sanjay Kundu held a meeting to chalk out the modalities for setting up a dedicated response force for the state.

Days after landslides wreaked havoc in the tribal Kinnaur district, Himachal Pradesh government has once again started the process to set up a State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), which has been caught in red tape for years.

In the absence of a dedicated response force in the state, the hill state Himachal, which is prone to high-intensity earthquakes and other natural calamities is forced to turn to NDRF and ITBP officials for recue operations every time a disaster hits. (PTI FILE)

Principal secretary, revenue, Onkar Sharma and director general of police Sanjay Kundu held a meeting to chalk out the modalities for setting up a dedicated response force for the state.

“It was decided that three companies of the SDRF will be set up in the state. The police department has already purchased necessary equipments for carrying out disaster rescue operations while the government has also approved 356 posts of police personnel, including technical staff, for the force,” said Onkar Sharma.

The proposal to set up an SDRF was drawn up in 2011, following the National Disaster Management Authority’s directions to all states, but it has been hanging fire since then.

In 2013, following the floods in Kinnaur, the then Congress government had asked all departments concerned to speed up the process to set up an SDRF. The state police had then come up with a plan to raise three companies of SDRF – one each in Pandoh of Mandi, Dharamshala and Shimla—but it never saw the light of the day.

Why the state need a dedicated force urgently

Himachal Pradesh falls in seismic zone five, making it prone to high-intensity earthquakes. Besides, calamities such as cloudburst, flashfloods, landslides, forest fires and avalanches are common in the hill state. This year alone, heavy rain, floods, cloudbursts, landslides and related incidents have claimed over 309 lives in the state. Besides, the state has also witnessed loss of property to the tune of ₹876.54 crore, owing to these disasters. But every time a disaster strikes, the state is forced to seek help from the National Disaster Response Force, paramilitary and army for relief and rescue operations. Across the country, as many as 23 states have already set up SDMA.

Eleven people still missing

As per a report, since June 13 when monsoon started in Himachal, 147 people have died in road accidents while landslides have killed 51 people. Ten people died in cloudburst and 28 due to drowning while the remaining casualties occurred in other incidents.

The maximum 44 people died in Kinnaur, the tribal district battered by frequent landslides this year. In a major landslide on July 26, nine people were killed after shooting stones hit a tourist vehicle at Batseri in Sangla area of the district.

Twenty-eight people were killed when a major landslide buried a Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus, an SUV and several other vehicles. As many as 43 people have died in Shimla, 31 each in Kangra and Chamba and 29 each Sirmaur. Heavy rains have damaged more than 800 houses and 550 cowsheds across, and 16 shops across the state. More than 580 cattle head have been lost.