Gangtok, Dec 4, (IPR) : The 35th Conference on Disaster Risk Industrial Safety and Emergency Preparedness under Chemical and Industrial Disaster Management (CIDM) 2019 was held at Chintan Bhawan,here today.
The two days conference is organised by Chemical and Industrial Disaster Management Board (CIDM) in in collaboration with Land Revenue and Disaster Management Department,Government of Sikkim.
The conference is themed as ” Major Initiatives in the North East towards Disaster Resilience”.
Shri Kunga Nima Lepcha,Minister for Land Revenue & Disaster Management(LRDM),Education,Law and Sports & Youth Affairs Department, Ms Ambika Pradhan,Relief Commissioner cum Secretary, LRDM,Advisors to HCM Shri T.N Dhakal,Shri Vishnu Khatiwara, Shri L.Mansingh,IAS(Retd ),Shri Rubaab Sood,Additional Director & Head,Disaster Management Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI),Dr Muzaffar Ahmad,Former Member,National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), including senior secretaries,delegates,panelists and representatives from NDMA,Indian Railways,OIST,Air India,Indian Coast Guard,ONGC,NDRF, public and corporate undertakings attended the conference at large.
The main focus of the proposed conference and exhibition is to make the industry globally safe by better emergency planning of accidents onsite, offsite including isolated storages. The conference would also provide a platform to national and International companies to share their success stories, best practices and technologies to minimize accidents on production sites and during transportation of chemicals and hazardous wastes.
The conference will provide opportunity of hands on training & capacity development of on-site and off-site responders,medics,paramedics during emergency.
In his inaugural address,Shri Kunga Nima Lepcha expressed his sincere gratitude to all the panelists, dignitaries, officers, media personnels and other participants in attendance.
He stated “The two days programme has been organised basically to discuss the various kinds of disasters, both natural as well as man-made in nature in our state(Sikkim) which it is highly susceptible to, and the kinds of preventive measures and necessary precautions that we can take up so as to avert the same”.
The Minister, in his address, also mentioned about the imperils of man-made disaster by alluding to the tragic chemical plant incident now notoriously dubbed as ‘the Bhopal gas tragedy.’
He further said ” Students need to be properly educated in this aspect. Interactive sessions between field experts and students must be included in the school curriculum. A person’s capability to deal with unforeseen emergencies in the face of disasters depends upon his ability to be prepared ahead of time” he added.
In his concluding message, he welcomed all the stakeholders to find a common ground so that they can work together in common interest towards disaster resilience.
Earlier, in her key note address, Smt Ambika Pradhan, Secretary, heartily thanked the Hon’ble Minister and heartily extended a warm welcome to all the guests from Govt of India and representatives from the public and corporate undertakings. She gladly mentioned that this conference is the first of its kind to be organised in the state.
She highlighted that it was imperative to develop preventive measures such as adoption of safer engineering measures and practices for the mitigation of disasters in the state.
Earlier,Shri L.Mansingh IAS (Retd) speaking before the gathering mentioned that Sikkim is a small state and is developing as a region in the industrial and technological sector.He stressed that rapid industrialisation could increase hazards and risk vulnerability to the environment therefore he suggested the need to adopt preventive measures and stressed on preparedness in the event of unforeseen eventualities.
The plenary session was divided into two technical sessions and was presided over by Shri S.D Negi , Principal Secretary,Labour Department.
The first session included panel discussions on Disaster Management Training,Mitigation and Response in which various topics on waste management of chemical hazardous materials,prevention of disastrous situations in steel plants,off-site emergency disaster plants,safety of people and assets working in Environments containing inflammable liquids and gases,etc.
A broad range of contents from keynotes and panel discussions on Disaster Risk Management and Reduction and use of technology to mitigate disasters were covered during second technical session.
Panel discussions on the use of GIS Technology for Risk Reduction,use of technology in Process Safety Management, application of Scientific Modelling Techniques in Disaster Risk Reduction,Management Infrastructures, safety measures and challenges of Pharmaceutical Industries in Sikkim were included in the session.
Finally,the first day of the technical programme concluded with the questions and answers session among the participants at large.
