VASCO
Mormugao Dy Collector Bhagwant Karmali on Tuesday convened a joint awareness camp on disaster management at Ravindra Bhavan in Baina.
The drive was part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat and Swayampurna Goa initiative and aimed at educating the public and key departments on preparedness for natural disasters such as landslides, fires, and floods.
Officials from various emergency departments including the fire services, police, PWD, municipality, revenue department (Mamlatdar office), and local panchayats were present for the camp.
Speaking to the media, Dy Collector Bhagwant Karmali said, “We have conducted a joint awareness drive through the disaster management department, and various agencies were called including the fire department, police, PWD, municipality and panchayats. The training focused on landslides, basic fire safety and rescue operations related to floods. Mormugao taluka is more prone to landslides, especially during the monsoon season, and it was necessary to raise awareness on disaster preparedness.”
The session included a practical presentation by the fire department on basic fire safety techniques and a briefing by other disaster management authorities on field-level coordination.
Mamlatdar Pravinjay Pandit, who was also present, said the drive was conducted as per the directives of the State Disaster Management Committee.
“I offered a PowerPoint presentation on the salient features of the National Disaster Management Act, 2005. I also explained the roles and responsibilities of the district collector, Dy Collector, mamlatdar and fire officers when a disaster occurs,” he said.
He added, “Normally the general public is not aware of the provisions of the Disaster Management Act. This awareness camp was beneficial as it informed people about the legal framework and response mechanisms, which can help during real disaster situations.”
The camp aimed to enhance coordination between departments and improve community-level disaster response readiness ahead of the peak monsoon period.
