National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in collaboration with the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) organized a workshop on “Mid-Term Review & Documentation of Best Practices of Aapda Mitra Scheme” in Guwahati recently.
The workshop was meant to provide an opportunity to the participating project States/UTs to share their experiences, challenges in implementation of the scheme and identify the gaps and do mid-course correction for proper implementation of the Scheme.
In the inaugural ceremony a theme song for Aapda Mitra was launched followed by three sessions categorised as North Eastern/Hilly States/UTs, Plain States/UTs and coastal States/UTs wherein the participating States under each category presented their best practices, challenges and success stories.
The workshop culminated with discussion on the insurance policy for Aapda Mitras across the country followed by a panel discussion on community level initiatives of different SDMAs and the best practices adapted by the States.
Altogether 30 States and UTs across India participated in the workshop including Assam, West Bengal, Nagaland, Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya, Pudducherry, Karnataka, Chandigarh, Kerala, Punjab, Goa, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Ladakh, Delhi, Haryana, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu and Bihar.
Talking to Asom Barta, project officer, ASDMA, Kishore Dutta said that 2,367 Aapda Mitras have been trained thus far under the project which was launched in 2017 to give volunteers an opportunity to offer their services at the time of natural disasters.
“The pilot project was then launched in Kamrup (Metropolitan) and Jorhat districts wherein 400 volunteers had participated. We will train 3,900 volunteers across 16 districts of Assam by March 2024. Six training centres under the project have been set-up in Assam to train these volunteers.”
Dutta told this correspondent adding that volunteers had offered exemplary services in the floods this year by assisting NDRF and SDRF jawans.
The inaugural ceremony of the workshop was graced by Jogen Mohan, Minister of Revenue & Disaster Management, Government of Assam, Rajendra Singh, Member, NDMA; Biswaranjan Samal, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Assam; Kunal Satyarthi, Joint Secretary, NDMA, besides others.
