The Home Guards and Civil Defences Department would raise civil defence forces in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada, the three coastal districts of the State, following directions from the Union Home Ministry.
Additional Director General of Police (Civil Defence) and Additional Commandant General (Home Guards) N. Shivakumar told reporters here on Tuesday that the Union Government has felt these three districts were vulnerable to natural as well as man-made calamities and hence the direction.
At present, Civil Defence forces are present in Bengaluru, Raichur and Kaiga in Uttara Kannada. The one in Bengaluru is doing good job which came to the fore during the recent floods. Thousands volunteers joined personnel from regular forces to rescue stranded people.
He said the Ministry had conducted a survey in this regard about one-and-a-half years ago and concluded that these three districts were more vulnerable to calamities due to various reasons, including rivers, sea, presence of major industries etc. Civil defence force, a community-based voluntary organisation, helps the administration to mitigate natural calamities and human-induced disasters, he said.
Mr. Shivakumar said people from all walks of life can volunteer to be part of the force and would be given training from the Department. They would not be paid any remuneration; but would get cover under group insurance scheme up to Rs. 3 lakh to cover expenses of accidents in line of duty.
The ADGP said the adequate awareness and preparedness of the community to respond to calamities would be crucial in mitigating the damage and suffering. Besides rescue, relief and rehabilitation works, the force being a community-based voluntary organisation, could play a vital role in increasing awareness among people to face eventualities, he said.
The forces would come up in about six months with each unit comprising at least 120 volunteers, Mr. Shivakumar said and urged those interested to get in touch with the respective district commandants of Home Guards.
