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Disaster management authority soon

By Our Staff Correspondent

DEHRA DUN, FEB. 7. The Centre will soon establish a National Disaster Management Authority to deal with natural calamities and keep the casualties at the minimum.

Announcing this at a Press conference at the Sector Headquarters (Garhwal) of the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) here today, the Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, said the decision to form the authority had been taken in view of the recent tsunami devastation in which the public and the authorities were caught unprepared. The Authority will work towards developing methods to check natural disasters as well as keep the human and property losses at the lowest possible scale.

The States had been advised to establish similar State and district level disaster management authorities and also educate the people on ways to face a disaster, Mr Patil said.

On the recent developments in Nepal, Mr. Patil said vigil on the borders with the Himalayan kingdom had been stepped up and necessary diplomatic steps were being taken. He assured all assistance to Uttaranchal to face the spill outs of the Maoists menace from Nepal.

Appreciating the excellent work of the ITBP in various fields including assistance during massive landslides in Uttaranchal, Mr. Patil said the force would be given special training in disaster management. Later, speaking at the second convocation of the Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences at Jolly Grant near here, the Home Minister praised Swami Ram for establishing a centre for higher medical learning and offering some of the latest equipment and highly educated doctors to provide medical attention to the people of the region. He appreciated the social service done by the Institute in the fields of water, sanitation and income generation in over 1000 villages.

The Uttaranchal Chief Minister, Narayan Dutt Tiwari, urged the new doctors to adopt holistic approach of service to the poor as visualized by Swami Ram as they ventured out to establish their practice in the coming days. He announced a special grant of Rs 1 crore for the Institute. As many as 73 students received their MBBS, MS or MD degrees. Vijay Dhasmana read out the detailed progress report and future plans of the Institute and C.S. Sharma proposed a vote of thanks.

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Disaster management authority soon

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