Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, May 9: The catastrophe at Visakhapatnam has rung warning bells for coastal Karnataka that has several gas storage facilities and where toppling of LPG tankers on the road has become a common phenomenon. Factories like BASF, MCF and MRPL handle hazardous material. But the city lacks national or state level disaster response force (SDRF) having expertise and equipment to deal with emergency situations.

Accidents like the one at Visakhapatnam not only leave behind a trail of deaths and loss in terms of money, but also affect and sometimes turn the entire lives of individuals and their families hellish. People will have to lead life in an agonizing way where the nature of injuries are grave and irreversible.

The state government, realizing the need to set up a state level disaster response force in Mangaluru, had allotted land at Aralsulapadavu in Badaga Yekkar near Bajpe sometime back. But the processes like appointment of staff, building construction etc have not been undertaken. The SDRF was expected to be able handle disasters like gas leak, earthquake, Tsunami, floods, crashing of buildings, landslide and other such disasters. SDRF unit here is expected to have 100 to 200 staff with jurisdiction spreading from Karwar to Kasargod.

SDRF units had been sanctioned for Bengaluru, Kalaburagi, Belagavi, and Mangaluru. Out of these, only Bengaluru centre is working properly. A few have been posted to Kalaburagi and Belagavi centres. Two were posted for Mangaluru, and both of them are working in fire department now. Chief fire officer Tippeswamy, said that people from police, home guards, internal security force and KSRP can apply for the SDRF posts, and selected candidates are provided with training at various places including National Civil Defence College, Bengaluru.

Dakshina Kannada district in-charge minister Kota Srinivas Poojary said that the officials have been asked to beef up vigilance. He said he has instructed to hold a meeting of MRPL, BASF and MCF to assess their preparedness to face grave danger. He said that the officials have to make doubly sure that the systems in place to avoid disasters are fool proof.