Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management (GIDM), the institute set up by state-run Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA), is in tie-up talks with Illinois Institute of Fire Services, University of Illinois.
"We are in dialogue with Illinois Institute of Fire Services for Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management, which will offer courses for managing various types of disasters, including man-made and terroristsrelated disasters," Ranjit Bannerji, chief executive officer, GSDMA, said while addressing the National Conference on Safe Transportation of Hazardous, Dangerous Goods through Land, Air, Sea and Pipelines here in Ahmedabad. The conference was organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FCCI).
Gujarat government has already allotted 50 acres of land at Raisan in Gandhinagar. The civil work of the proposed institute has been completed and it is likely to be functional in next 8 to 9 months.
Though Gujarat has good record of industrial safety, the state government is concerned over the matter of hazardous goods as 35 per cent or 433 major hazardous accident units are located in the state. Apart from this, around 7,800 small scale units are registered with other state regulatory bodies such as Gujarat State Pollution Control Board (GPCB).
In order to tackle accidents or disasters in any of these units, the state has created five Emergency Response Centres (ERCs) one each at Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Vadodara and Gandhidham. The Rajkot ERC will be inaugurated next month.
"In addition to this, we are planning to set up three more such centres, including at Vapi and Jamnagar," he added.
The Gujarat government has so far imported equipments worth Rs. 350 crore for managing disasters. Soon, the government will float global tenders for procuring hazardous material trucks, each one costing about Rs. 4 to 4.5 crore. The government may place orders for 10 trucks.
Gujarat government is also considering to chalk out on-site action plans specifically for industrial clusters such as Dahej and Hazira, where hundreds of chemical and petrochemical units are operational. Dahej, Hazira, Kandla, Vadodara and Jamnagar have been identified for the purposed. "In the first phase, we will assess the specific requirements of a perticular cluster. The government will see what types of equipments are required in that region," Bannerji said.
