'SDRF will be strengthened in Karnataka'

The Karnataka government will take measures to strengthen State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) in the state, Younus Ali Kausar, Deputy Director (Training and SDRF), Karnataka Fire and Emergency Services said.

He added that measures have been taken to induct ex-servicemen into the SDRF.

Kausar, after visiting the fire station at Pandeshwar and inspecting the SDRF training, informed that the SDRF units are located in Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Belagavi and Kalaburagi. A proposal has been submitted to the government to set up units in Davangere and Mysuru.

The NDRF tackles disasters at the national level, while the SDRF at the state level.

Kausar said that the SDRF was set up in 2012 to tackle natural calamities.

The SDRF needs personnel from KSRP and internal security force. There is a shortage of staff in the Police Department. As a result, 25 personnel from the Fire and Emergency Service, Home Guards and Paura Rakshana Pade each, are being taken to the SDRF. They are being trained in Mangaluru, he added.

Kausar said the government has given the required equipment to the SDRF. The unit in Mangaluru has rescued 400 flood-affected people in Udupi recently, he added