6th batch of ‘Upscaling Aapda Mitra’ scheme in J&K inaugurated

Jammu : The 6th batch of Aapda Mitra; Community Volunteers on Disaster Response under the scheme “Upscaling Aapda Mitra” for Districts – Jammu, Kathua, Samba, Rajouri, Poonch, Udhampur, Ramban, Doda and Kishtwar was inaugurated under the guidance of Commandant General HG/CD & SDRF J&K today by S. Randheer Singh SSP, I/C Commandant, SDRF 2nd Bn. in a function held at Central Training Institute HG/CD, Kot Bhalwal Jammu.

Under the Govt. of India sponsored “Upscaling Aapda Mitra scheme” in which 160 community volunteers from all districts of Jammu province including Volunteers from different segments of the society will be trained as first responders to any kind of Disaster.

While speaking in the inaugural address, S. Randheer Singh, SSP said that the aim of the scheme is to develop the capacity and skills of the community volunteers who are the first responders during any disaster so that they can deal with the same in a pragmatic manner.

Further, he shared the schedule of this 12 days In-house training and also conveyed that after the completion of the training, the trained community volunteers will be provided with merit certificates.

This training will be imparted by resource persons from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and experts from other Departments like Fire & Emergency Services, Mountaineering Rescue Team of JKP etc.

It was also informed that till date 05 batches comprising of 427 volunteers from Jammu Province have been trained and till March 2023, it is expected that 1500 community volunteers shall be trained for disaster response.

The officer conveyed gratitude to the Secretary to Govt. ,Deptt. of DMRRR, J&K for all the support, all the respective District Commissioners for sending the volunteers from their districts in large numbers and also all the officers and trainers of SDRF 2nd Bn as well as CTI, HG/CD Jammu.

Sh. Ashok Kumar Kumar, Principal CTI HG/CD Jammu, Sh. Mohinder Paul, Dy. SP (Training), SDRF 2nd. Bn., Inspector Vishal Dubey (I/C Prov.), Inspector Sunil Sharma (I/C R&D), Inspr. Sanjeev Kalsi (I/C Trg) and officers of NDRF as well as 2nd. Bn. were also present on the occasion.