City to get control room for disasters

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Bengaluru: Bengaluru may soon have an integrated control room to improve the response during disasters. An integrated Com­mand Centre is on the cards and a control room comprising police officials and members of the State Disaster Manage­ment Authority will soon be set up. The Control room is expected to be at new Police Commis­sioner’s building on Infantry Road.
Speaking at the concluding session of the 3-day long workshop on ‘Best international practices in building resi­lient cities’, Secretary for Disaster Manage­ment, Tushar Giri­nath said a single emergency response number is the need of the hour.
“When disaster strikes, several agencies are required to work together. The control command centre will have representatives from BBMP, Health Department and Police and Ambulance network, so that response time is reduced.” Girinath added.
He also said that the state agency requires at least Rs 500 crore annually, whereas the central government provides less Rs 100 crore. “We end up spending four times more money than has been allotted to us, so we have decided to convince the 14th Finance Commission to raise the centre’s aid for disasters. Also, the Act on Disaster Management does not have funding for anything other than natural disasters. The funds don’t cover disasters such as bomb blasts, terror attacks and other man-made disasters,” he pointed out.
Chief Secretary Kau­shik Mukharjee said that the society should be resilient. “Citizens must be trained in handling disasters, since they are often at the centre of them. It’s imp­ortant, ther­e­fore, to build resilient communities,” he said.
Girinath added that a report will be soon be made with recommendations and suggestions from the three-day conference which involved security experts from India and abroad. The workshop was organised by Synergia.