Eight Battalion of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) , located at Ghaziabad, has been selected for the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar for its commendable work in Disaster Management. The Award recipient will receive a certificate and a cash prize of Rs. 51 lakh. Government announced the first Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar on the occasion of birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose here today in Delhi. The award is to be announced every year on 23rd January. This award is for year 2019.
Nominations of the award were solicited from 19th December 2018 onwards. Last date for receipt of Nominations was 07th Jan 2019 and over 300 nominations from Institutions and Individuals were received.
Participated in 314 major Operations and rescued over 50,000 people, 8th Battalion of NDRF was raised in 2006 and is a highly specialised Rescue and Response Force with large area of responsibility covering National Capital Region (NCR), Uttarakhand, Western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
In the recent Kerala Floods, the battalion rescued 5338 victims and evacuated 24,000 persons to safety. Other major disasters in which this NDRF battalion participated are Leh Cloud Burst (2011), Kedarnath Floods (2013), Cyclone Hudhud (2014), Chennai Floods (2015) and Tripura Floods (2018). The battalion had worked efficiently to neutralise the threat during Radiation Incident at Mayapuri, Delhi during the year 2010.
Not in own country NDRF men have also done commendable Disaster Management related work internationally. In the aftermath of Nepal Earthquake in 2015, six teams of the battalion were amongst the first responders to land at Kathmandu. Their teams were also sent to Japan during Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011 and last year Tsunami in Indonesia.
According to a press release, in addition to the response and relief work, the 8th Battalion NDRF has trained large number of first responders from SDRF, NCC, Civil Defence, Homeguards, Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan and Nepal Police. The Community based Capacity Building Programmes run by the battalion has benefited over nine lacs people.
Backgrounder :
In the aftermath of any disaster, many organisations and individuals work silently but effectively to alleviate suffering of the affected population. Their immense contribution and selfless service to humanity often goes unacknowledged. Keeping this in view, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has advised to institute a National Award so as to recognise the efforts of such organisations and individuals.
All Indian Citizens and organizations, who have excelled in areas of Disaster Management; like Prevention, Mitigation, Preparedness, Rescue, Response, Relief, Rehabilitation, Research/Innovations or Early Warning are eligible for the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar.
