Karnataka Cabinet today decided to raise a state disaster response force comprising four companies with a total of 540 personnel.

A company each would be stationed in the district headquarter towns of Mangalore, Belgaum and Gulbarga besides the state capital.

The personnel would be drawn from state reserve police, fire services and home-guards for the force, which would be on the lines of the National Disaster Response Force, Law Minister S Suresh Kumar said in a media briefing after the Cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar.

The company stationed in Mangalore, for example, would keep a watch on Kaiga nuclear plant in neighbouring Uttara Kannada district and swing into action in case of coastal calamities. The force would be raised over the next two years.