Agartala, Aug 04, 2022, TRIPURATIMES Desk

Agartala, Aug 04: The Tripura government has set its eye on utilizing advanced technology for disaster management, an official said on Thursday.

Addressing a press conference, Principal Secretary of Revenue department Puneet Agarwal spoke about the initiatives taken by the Tripura government for prompt response in case of any disaster.

He said, considering HAM radio as one of the alternate communication systems in disaster management, the state government has decided to setup 9 HAM radio stations in all 8 districts and state. The first HAM station set up at SEOC campus, Agartala is ready for inauguration.

So far more than 1500 officials and volunteers have been trained on HAM radio operation. Meanwhile, for HAM radio operation, it is necessary to have HAM licence issued by the Ministry of Communication.

Giving more details, he said, to provide equipment support for emergency rescue operations, the state government has procured 45 types of critical equipment and positioned at all 23 sub-divisions, 12 TSR battalions, CTI-Gokulnagar and District headquarters. 

The critical equipment included- drones, night vision equipment, motor boats, life detectors, satellite phones, cutters, firefighting and lighting equipment, tents, stretchers and ambulances etc.
He also said, further initiative is being taken for procurement of additional advanced equipment and training of more officials and volunteers.

The state government, he said, has declared 11 disasters as state specific disasters for extending benefits to the affected people. These are- Lightening/ Thundering, fire in shops and houses (except riot, political violence and intentional/insured), erosion (River Bank, Land etc. due to flow of flood water), Heavy Rain, Storm, Strong Wind, Heat Wave, Sun Burn, Sun Stroke, Drowning in rivers, ponds, deep hole, lakes (except suicide or intentional) and Mass tragedy/accidents i.e. road accidents, rail accidents, air accidents, boat tragedy, gas leakage, poisoning etc.

For early warning system, there are provisions of weather forecast, nowcast, lightning early warning and Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) etc. Besides, the IMD already approved additional 10 Automated Rain Gauges for installation in Agartala and other urban areas. Also, additional 7 Automated Weather Stations would be installed in strategic locations in the state; these instruments would provide early warning inputs on weather, Agarwal told the reports.

The Central Water Commission is setting up of additional 7 flood forecasting stations in Gomati, Howrah, Khowai and Dhalai rivers while a special project is being implemented for river embankment studies for Manu and Howrah rivers with technical support from the North East Space Application Centre (NESAC), Shillong, the Principal Secretary said.

For immediate response, one permanent NDRF platoon is stationed at CTI-Gokulnagar and one temporary NDRF team is stationed at Kailashahar for the monsoon season since 2018 floods. Besides, the state government has raised 4 companies of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) in the line of NDRF.

He also spoke on the other major initiatives taken by the state government for disaster management. TDMA state project officer Dr. Sarat Kumar Das and other officials were present in the press conference.