Bangalore, August 7, 2013; Creating a post of ‘Incident Commander’ at various verticals of different departments is one of the recommendations which emerged at the end of a three-day conference on ‘Building Resilient Cities’ here on Wednesday. The recommendations will be submitted to the State government.
Addressing reporters, Tushar Girinath, Secretary, Revenue Department, said: “After three days of brainstorming, one aspect that has emerged is that of creating incident commanders in municipal bodies, health department, police and other departments concerned that have to respond in times of emergency.”
He said these will not be top ranking officials, but people who are responsible for quick response. In the police department, for example, an incident commander will be an officer of the rank of Inspector or sub-inspector, because they will be the ones reaching the spot first and commanding men on the ground.
While this is part of the action plan for Bangalore, he said, the State is looking at getting a battalion of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), which will have around 800 personnel, including technical people.
Noting that a separate control room and a dedicated helpline will be created to manage disasters, he said, the response teams will complement the same.
Pointing out that they are looking at getting about Rs 350 crore to Rs 500 crore for disaster management from the 14th Finance Commission, he said, the same will be used in creating better infrastructure and training. “For the first time, the State government has allocated Rs 100 crore for disaster management. Apart from this, money allocated through various departments is Rs 125 crore,” he said.
