State Disaster Response Force equipment must be upgraded: State Minister of Disaster Management Kyrmen Shylla

A REPORTER

SHILLONG: The State Minister of Disaster Management, Kyrmen Shylla has admitted that there is an immediate need to upgrade the equipments used by the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) in the wake of the recent incident that had happened at Diengiong villager under Mawdiangdiang Outpost as three people lost their lives after they drowned in a 60-ft deep ring-well.

It may be mentioned that during the operation to retrieve the body of the trio by personnel of the SDRF, one of them also had problems with his breathing at it was suffocating inside the ring-well and hence had to be pulled out of the well during the operation.

Speaking to reporters at his office chamber on Tuesday, Shylla said, “We are not actually well equipped when it comes to dealing with such incidents. Yesterday, we had also discussed the matter with officers of the department to find a way to send our proposal to upgrade the equipments of the SDRF personnel.”

He informed that the department will meet to discuss on the proposals to upgrade the equipments of SDRF and on the need for further training of the personnel.

“This will also be taken up with Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma so that better service can be provided during such incidents to the public of the state by the department,” he said.

He said that such incidents will happen again in the near future and there is a need to prevent such thing from happening and better service should also be provided during such a disaster. Hence there is a need for better equipments and even the SDRF should also undergo further training courses.

When asked whether the State government will provide compensation to the family members of those three people who had lost their lives in the incident, he said, “Compensation will be provided by as per norms of the government.”

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