STATE TIMES NEWS
Jammu: Indian Institute of Public Administration J&K Regional Branch (IIPA JKRB) in collaboration with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Government of India, on Tuesday organized a workshop on ‘Essence of Fire Safety’ which was attended by over 125 participants from various stakeholders in government and private sector.
Rajiv Narang, Director, Centre for Fire, Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES), DRDO in his keynote address informed that as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat initiative of Prime Minister, CFEES has started developing indigenous products for fire safety which meets the global standards.
He shared about the research and development regarding nano safety regulations, eco-friendly disposal, use of bio-formulations in fire safety, fire suppression technologies, linear thermal detectors, structured fire fighting suits, fire suppression gel being done by scientists at DRDO.
B R Sharma, IAS (Retd), former Secretary, GoI and former Chief Secretary, Government of J&K, also the Chairman of IIPA JKRB said proactive measures by all the institutions can ensure preventable deaths and disabilities.
He said the new technologies should be put to effective use and there is an urgent need to reprioritize our thinking while designing buildings and a greater sense of responsibility on the part of the citizens can prevent disasters from fire.
Dr. Ashok Bhan, IPS (Retd), former DGP, JK and Patron of the IIPA JKRB cautioned the audience against the possible hazards of fire. He urged that stakeholders to invest in prevention of fire by adopting proactive measures.
Dr. B Srinavas, IPS, Commandant General HG/CD/SDRF, J&K shared the challenges related to fire incidents in J&K follow a pattern and keeping view to the geographical location of the UT, the nature of incidents are also unique.
He said that Government of JK is committed to adopt best practices, invest in capacity building of its people and adopt latest technological equipments to prevent incidents from fire.
Dr. Sudershan Kumar, Former DG, DRDO and Special Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Government of India talked about the concept of Fire Triangle and said that safety measures can prevent collateral damages.
Later three technical sessions were held on “Development of State-of-the-Art Fire Safety Products and Technologies” by Dr K.C Wadhwa, Associate Director, CFEES; “Status of Fire Safety in India” by Prashant Lonkar; and ‘A case study of a Fire Incident’ by Pankaj Chawla, Scientist ‘D’.
Prof Alka Sharma, Hony Secretary, IIPA JKRB presented the welcome address, K.B Jandial, IAS (Retd), Director (Seminars) presented the vote of thanks and Dr. Anil Gupta, Joint Secretary, IIPA JKRB conducted the proceedings of the function.