Disaster maangement centre in Latur

PUNE: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which has a disaster management centre at Talegaon, will now set up another disaster management training centre at Latur to undertake various disaster mitigation programmes.

Union home minister Shivraj Patil will lay the foundation stone of the institute on March 23. The institute will have an initial training capacity of 700 personnel at a time. The total expenditure for the infrastructure, coming up on 200 acres, will be Rs 92.99 crore.

The institute will focus on medical first responder (MFR) and collapsed structure search and rescue (CSSR) for calamities, flood rescue and relief operations for man-made accidents and special training for nuclear, biological and chemical disasters. Along with the 200 battalions of the CRPF, the training institute will also offer disaster management training to other organisations, including the state police.

The institute will come up within the next two years and will be developed as a centre for excellence. Training for paramedics will also be given, as they have an important role to play in disaster mitigation. The centre will also cater to trainees from SAARC an ASEAN countries. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is formulating a policy to mitigate losses from disasters.

The training institute will have a training block, technical building, administrative block, quarter guard and hospital. Apart from the hospital, there will be a section for paramedics. Training in flood, river and swimming pool rescue will be offered with the help of a breathing apparatus gallery on the institute premises. For high altitude search and rescue training, CRPF training will have a drill tower, industrial tower, control tower and water bodies, which will cover various calamities.