PRESENT ACTIVITIES

Left : Shri R.J.S. Nalwa, IPS, DG & CGP (HG), WB, and Formal Director of CD, WB received DGCD Disk (MHA, GOI) with Certificate from the Hom'ble MIC of CD, WB - Janab Javed Ahamed Khan, next -Lt. Col. and Project Dy. Director, DGCD, MHA, GOI - Shri Sanjay Sehgal and  ADG & Director of Civil Defence, WB - Shri Gangeshwar Singh, IPS.

a. TRAINED MANPOWER :  In an attempt to make the Civil Defence Organisation in the State, hitherto limited to CD Towns only, more broad-based and to take it down to the grass roots  level and, most significantly, to ensure that the community becomes an effective first responder in the event of any natural / manmade calamity / disaster, the following procedures have already been initiated :-

1.       All the D.M. & Controllers of Civil Defence been asked to ensure that

a)      In every Municipal Town in their respective jurisdictions

i)    20 volunteers are enrolled per Ward.

ii)  In addition there would be 2 Sector Wardens and 1 Post Warden per Ward who would report to a Deputy  Divisional Warden in the Ward.

iii)  Deputy Divisional Wardens would report to a Divisional Warden who would head a contiguous area covering 4-5 Wards.

 b) In every Corporation

 i)  50 volunteers are enrolled per Ward.

ii) In addition there would be 2 Sector Wardens and 1 Post Warden per Ward who   would report to a Deputy Divisional Warden in the Ward.

iv)   Deputy Divisional Wardens would report to a Divisional Warden who would head a contiguous area covering 2-3 Wards.

 c)    In rural areas

 i)  Every Panchayat  should have

      1. 12 volunteers

      2. 2 Sector Wardens and 1 Post Warden.

ii)  2-3 GPs would be one under a Deputy Divisional Warden and

iii)  There would be one Divisional Warden in each block who would report to the BDO cum Addl. Deputy Controller of Civil Defence .

iv)   All the Deputy Divisional Wardens would report to the Divisional Warden.

 d.     All the Divisional Wardens in the urban areas and the BDOs cum Addl. Deputy Controllers in the rural areas would report to the SDO cum Deputy Controller of CD. In Kolkata the reporting authority would be the Deputy Controller of Civil Defence of the concerned Sub Area. In rural areas the BDO cum Addl. Deputy Controller of Civil Defence  shall report to the SDO cum Deputy Controller of Civil Defence.

2. The Deputy Controllers would, in turn, report to the District Magistrate cum Controller of Civil Defence for his District or the Controller cum Controller of Civil Defence for Kolkata.

The financial implications of the Basic Training for enrolled volunteers all over the State come to Rs. 1,80,47,680.00 and the details are given in Annexure-I. With the CD department providing Rs. 37.60 Lakhs, the remaining funds amounting to Rs. 1,42,87,680/- may be funded by the Department of Disaster Management . The deliverables would be around  1.289 lakh trained volunteers spread all over the State.

B. QUICK RESPONCE TEAMS

         It has been noticed that lot of time passes before rescue and search teams can reach the spot.  This happens primarily on account of the fact that there are no dedicated personnel who could be pressed into service at short notice aswell as lack of appropriate equipment. While some head way appears to have been made in terms of equipment availability, it is necessary to have

1.       A dedicated team of personnel for deployment.

2.       These should be barrack based to enable ready deployment at short notice.

3.       Adequate quantum of suitable equipment of appropriate quality.

           In this connection it may be pointed out that 4 Heavy Civil Defence Rescue Vehicles and 3 Trauma Ambulance  have been acquired by the Civil Defence Directorate and these have been located for the Multi Disciplinary Regional Centres as follows :-

1.       2 CDRVs & 1 Ambulance are stationed in Kolkata.

2.       1 CDRV & 1 Ambulance are stationed at Asansol and

3.       1 CDRV & 1 Ambulance are stationed at Siliguri

           It would not be out of place to mention that in these CDRVs, provision has been made for carrying all the necessary Rescue & Personnel Protective Equipments including a Genset in addition to 30 officers andmen as a part of Quick Reaction Teams(QRTs). All the above mentioned equipment is permanently loaded in the vehicle in the specially designed compartments. As  a result the CDRV can move out for rescue work at very short notice. This very effective intervention at the primary level itself can take care of most eventualities that a district administration may have to face.

The Controllers of Civil Defence shall appoint one of the Senior S.O.I. s as the Officer –in-Charge of the QRTs, and the equipment thereof. This officer shall be responsible for the QRTs being in perfect condition and for their effective deployment. He shall, in turn report to the District Officer in charge of Disaster Management, who would normally be the District Magistrate himself.

Furthermore, the Govt. of India has recently released Rs. 110.00 lakhs for transport support for the 10(ten) Multi Hazard Districts of West Bengal @ Rs. 11 lakhs per District. It has Been proposed to take up

1.       9 Mini CDRVs, each on a TATA SFC 407 chassis.

2.       8 TATA Spacios(Jeeps) and

3.       7 Motor Cycles

         For the Multi Hazard Districts. An additional cost of approx. Rs. 3 lakhs would have to incur on each TATA 407 chassis for fabrication of body to convert it into a Mini CDRV. The CD Department shall take up the fabrication for the Mini CDRVs. The Disaster Management Department may be moved for equipping the Mini CDRVs appropriately. The cost of equipping 1 Mini CDRV shall be Rs. 4,16,590/-. Details are in Annexure-VII.

                In view of the requirement of quick deployment of well trained , suitably equipped search and rescue teams,  it is proposed that there should be provisions for suitably manned QRTs as follows:-

1.       As a unit of 40 personnel along with one fully equipped CDRV and 1 Mini CDRV , along with  a Jeep and 1 Motor Cycle should be made available in each District HQrs. excluding Kolkata and the Hills of Darjeeling to enable the District Magistrate & Controller of Civil Defence to effectively tackle any calamity/disaster that may strike his District. Another unit of 20 personnel  would be deployed in one of the outlying and vulnerable subdivision along with a Mini CDRV and a Motor Cycle to enable further decentralisation  of effective intervention. This shall be taken up in the 2^nd phase and as part of the roll out.

2.       As a CDRV shall be difficult to operate in the Hills, deployment of CDRV may not be possible in Darjeeling, which shall be located in Siliguri. In cases of extreme emergencies, Darjeeling Hills may be catered to by this CDRV. However, to ensure appropriate coverage for the 3 hill subdivisions of Darjeeling hills, it is proposed to have 4 Mini CDRVs, with 2 stationed in Darjeeling and the other 2 at Kalimpong and Kurseong, with higher level of support equipment and 1 Mini CDRV  at Siliguri. Each Mini CDRV shall be supported by 20 personnel. There shall also be a Jeep each for Darjeeling as well as Siliguri, and a Motor Cycle for each of the 4 sub -divisions.

3.       To enable the Collector for Kolkata & Controller of Civil Defence to effectively tackle any calamity/disaster that may strike his District, a unit of 40 personnel  along with 1 CDRV shall be available for deployment with his office and 20 personnel along with one fully equipped Mini CDRV along with a Jeep and 1 Motor Cycle should be made available in each Sub Area.

4.       There would be reserves along with the 2 available CDRVs at Kolkata along with 1 Trauma Ambulance along with suitably trained staff under the control of the Director, Civil Defence for centralised deployment in case of emergencies. Similarly reserves in man and equipment  in the form of 1 CDRV and 1 Trauma Ambulance would be available for deployment in the North Bengal and Paschimanchal area at Siliguri and Asansol  respectively under the control of the Director, Civil Defence.

 EQUIPMENT IMPLICATIONS

  In the context of the requirements and costs as indicated above, there would be a need to have

1.       19 more fully equipped CDRVs, one for each district, including Kolkata;

2.       34 equipped Mini CDRVs as follows;

a.       2 in each of the 17 districts, other than Darjeeling and Kolkata;

b.      2 for the HQ sub division of Darjeeling;

c.       1 each for the other 3 sub divisions of Darjeeling;

d.      1 for each of the 4 sub areas of Kolkata;

e.      Since 9 are already being procured under the central scheme, the requirement is(2x17+2+3+4)-9=34;

3.       15 Jeeps as follows:

a.       1 in each of the 18 districts, other than Kolkata;

b.      1 additional for the Siliguri Subdivision;

c.       1 for each of the 4 sub areas of Kolkata;

d.      Since 8 are already being procured under the central scheme, the requirement is(18+1(Siliguri)+4(for Kolkata)-8=15).

4.       31 Motor Cycles as follows :

a.       2 in each of the 17 districts, other than Darjeeling and Kolkata;

b.      1 each for the 4 sub divisions of Darjeeling;

c.       Since 7 are already being procured under the central scheme, the requirement is (2x17)+4-7)=31.

  5.      TRAINING :   With a view to man CDR Vehicles 44 plus to be stationed as all the heading districts and Kolkata, physically fit and mentally sound CD Volunteers have been selected @ 60(sixty) per district and being trained in batches at WBNVF Training Centre, Kalyani, Nadia started on 25.05.13 and will be completed   on 3^rd August, 2013. The training was fully residential. Fooding & lodging was provided by us. The entire course of training was borne by the Disaster Management Deptt. The Hon’ble MIC, Deptt. of Civil Defence, Principal  Secretary , ADG, CD Officers, NDRF attended the inaugural session of each batch of the training. The CD Volunteers were imparted  training on use of recently procured Modern Search & Rescue  Equipments.