The district’s long-pending demand for the permanent presence of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) may finally become a reality.
The district administration has said that it has received a communication from Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Mullappally Ramachandran that the Centre is agreeable to deploying three companies of the NDRF in the district considering the high possibility of natural disasters in the high-range areas of the district, especially Kavilumpara and Kakkayam grama panchayats.
The move follows the setting up of a centre for the Central Reserve Police Force in Peruvannamuzhi here.
The district administration said in a statement that Mr. Ramachandran had, in the letter, asked the District Collector to use the puromboke land located in Perambra-Eravattur village coming under the Vadakara parliamentary constituency as a suitable place to house the unit of the central disaster forces.
As of now, forces are sent in from Arakkonam whenever a natural disaster occurs in the Malabar area.
A minor landslip had occurred as recently as on Sunday near the Chakkittapara panchayat, a high-range area, following heavy rain. It was only last year that a landslip at Pulloorampara in the same belt claimed eight lives. In July this year, a road was washed away near the Kakkayam dam site.
As per a report of the district administration to the Central team that visited Kozhikode in July, the district suffered losses to the tune of Rs.64 crore in the monsoon. More than 35 houses had been destroyed, while more than 700 were damaged.
Footage and photographs explaining the gravity of rain-related calamities had been shown to the Central delegation to convince them of the losses and substantiate the district’s claims.
A report prepared by the District Collector said that Rs.5 crore was spent for carrying out various rescue and emergency operations in the district this year.
