Five years on, no NDRF unit in sight

For five long years, entire Malabar has been waiting for the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) headquarters in Kozhikode as the Union and State Ministers had vociferously campaigned for it and had even won permissions. But they failed to see its opening on time.

The promise was made at a time when several innocent people in the hilly areas of the district were being killed in landslips and other natural calamities.

What made people remain hopeful about the fast realisation of the project was a move of the then district administration to provide permanent accommodation for the NDRF unit at its Urban Wholesale Agriculture Market Complex at Vengeri. According to the then Additional District Magistrate, K.P. Ramadevi, it had made arrangements for housing at least 40 personnel here following a positive response from top NDRF officials.

They had come to inspect the spot as part of the final verification process and had expressed satisfaction. But, things lost steam later on. Interestingly, the UPA-led Union government in 2009 had accorded sanction to the project by admitting its importance in the backdrop of serious natural calamities and the pertaining threat.

It was the intervention of the then Union Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran that gave a boost to the proposal when it reached the Centre. The Minister himself had said several times that the project would be a reality soon, based on the speedy processing of files. However, he also missed out on the later developments.

“Now, people’s representatives and officials responsible for taking up the issues discuss the project only when monsoon reaches our doorstep. A temporary mechanism is carved out at the local level all of a sudden and thus they escape from the larger responsibility,” said a leader of a prominent farmers’ organisation in Kozhikode. He said NDRF was always a ‘monsoon fantasy’ for Malabar.

The district administration is all set to form a rapid response force this year too, with the available facilities and ensuring the cooperation of various government departments.

The plan is to use this team to swing into action in times of calamities. However, the effectiveness of such a temporary arrangement with minimal facilities is still lying in the balance.