Village youth to be trained for fire fighting
PTI, PANAJI | 14 April 2013 13:08 IST
Demonstration at National Fire Day (Photo: Rupesh Samant)
Goa Fire and Emergency Services department has decided to train rural volunteers in fire fighting and disaster management from this financial year, a senior official said today.
Director of Fire and Emergency Services Ashok Menon told a gathering today that the mobile vans under central government scheme would be procured for training the rural volunteers.
“We have a vision to go to the village panchayats and prepare rural volunteers who will be trained in various aspects of fire safety and disaster management,” Menon said addressing a gathering during National Fire Service day, held today in Panaji.
“This will be started using mobile training vans, for which Central Assistance is expected,” he added.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and Principal Secretary R K Verma were also present for the function.
Menon said that once the vans are available, the trainers would be going to each village panchayat and undertaking the training program. This would commence from this financial year, he stated.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar insisted the need for training in fighting agriculture related fire, which is crucial in the state. “There is a training required to fight agriculture related fire. There are so many instances of fire for the Cashew plantations reported during this season,” he said.
The Chief minister assured all possible support for the Fire and Emergency Services department, in their task to save the lives of people.
As per the official date, the department attended 5628 fire and emergency calls during the last financial year of which 2727 were fire related and 2901 were of non-fire related. The department has saved property worth Rs 493.93 crore during the last financial year.
