AP expects early nod from Centre for purchase of vehicles to deal with CBRN
Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh government is expecting early clearance from the Centre to procure specialised vehicles and equipment and to train fire personnel to deal with chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear disasters in the state.
The AP fire service sent a proposal worth Rs 220 crore to the Centre some time ago, seeking its approval to handle emergency situations pertaining to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear disasters.
Senior officials from the department went to Delhi recently and met officials from Niti Ayog for sanction of funds and reportedly got a positive response. Once the proposal gets the sanction, funds will be released to the AP state disaster management authority which will take up the job of procurement of specialised vehicles and equipment and work out plans for training of the fire personnel.
The Centre is implementing the programme for the entire country.
Meanwhile, the fire service imported two vehicles. One was a Turntable Ladder measuring 54 metres high to cater to the emergency requirements of high-rise buildings up to 18 floors, from Japan, and it was placed in Vijayawada. The other was a Bronto Skylift measuring 90 metres in height to cater to a maximum of 30 floors. This was imported from Finland and placed in Visakhapatnam to fight fire and also take up rescue operations during fire mishaps.
A similar fire-fighting equipment measuring 54 metres high placed in Visakhapatnam has been shifted to Tirupati.
The authorities say that in view of the presence of a huge number of high-rise multi-storied buildings in Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati, they positioned these at appropriate places.
The fire service has 257 fire tenders. Out of 67 Inflatable Rescue Boats, some were damaged. The authorities are planning to procure about 25 IRBs to replace the damaged ones, in order to take up rescue operations in a more effective manner in the water bodies.
The fire personnel have rescued nearly 15,000 villagers during the recent floods in the Godavari.
As each district is having nearly 100 four or five storied buildings, efforts are on to press into service specialised vehicles of 27 to 30 metres height that are manufactured in the country, to deal with fire mishaps and to rescue the stranded victims.
Regional fire officer Srinivasulu said, “We have visited Delhi recently and appraised the Centre about the proposal we had submitted to it for procurement of vehicles and equipment and for training of manpower to deal with chemical, biological, nuclear and radiological disasters. We got a positive response and funds are likely to be sanctioned for these soon from Delhi.”
