The state dairy development commissioner has proposed to hand over 2.57 hectare land from the Government Milk Scheme at Mahad to the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to set up a permanent base camp. This is crucial especially in the wake of deaths caused after landslide at Talaye in Mahad tehsil, Raigad district and the timely engagement of the NDRF teams to carry out rescue and relief operations there to save those trapped under the debris and retrieve bodies.
The dairy development department desk officer Ujwal Salvi in a government resolution said the dairy development commissioner has proposed to hand over the 2.57 hectare of land from the Government Milk Scheme at Mahad citing that the existing building and land cannot be put to use as the milk collection there won’t resume. Therefore, in view of the demand for land in the larger public interest made by the Raigad District Collector, the dairy development commissioner has agreed to provide it for the setting up of a base camp by NDRF.
The land will be handed over once the dairy development commissionerate gets an alternate government land at the Raigad district headquarters. The dairy development commissioner had proposed to hand over the land at Mahad way back in January this year but a recent landslide has triggered to complete the process on a priority basis.
The dairy development department’s move came in the wake of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s announcement to set up a special force on the lines of NDRF and strengthen the SDRF to deal with natural calamities and disasters including landslides.
Thackeray, his deputy Ajit Pawar and other ministers had acknowledged the NDRF’s involvement in rescue operations in Mahad and the rest of flood-hit villages from 9 districts. NDRF had assigned a total of 33 teams in Maharashtra alone.
