Maharashtra devoid of frontline assistance from Civil Defence Volunteers provided by Civil Defence Act 1968 and amendment bill of 2009 in favour of Disaster Management. "

Maharashtra devoid of frontline assistance from Civil Defence Volunteers provided by Civil Defence Act 1968 and amendment bill of 2009 in favour of Disaster Management. "

Currently the state of Maharashtra is in a grave start emergency due to Covid 19 pandemic and torrential rains lashing all parts of the state with red alert of floods and natural calamities.

We are in dire need of volunteers from the Civil Defence to come to the rescue and support of the civilians and save hundreds of lives. Safety of the civilian is the prime responsibility of state government and this can be efficiently and effectively fulfilled by the Civil Defence Volunteers, hand in hand with other Government fraternities.

For reasons best know to the Maharashtra state government,  in the year 2016 Civil Defence volunteers services were discontinued with unlawful rules till further notice for  Mumbai, Pune, Tarapur, Uran, Nasik and Thane. While the cities lost their prime support.

These volunteers could be instrumental in the current pandemic & in Natural & Man-made Disaster situations to provide Incident Controlling ,Rescue, First-Aid,  Communication, Welfare and spread awareness. The cities have been frequently paralyzed due to water logging in various areas and exposed to the threat of life and material loses. The state government needs to realise that with the help of trained Civil Defence Volunteers these losses can be effectively minimized and lives can be saved. 

The state government need to re-establish the rules and regulations prior to 2016 and allow the volunteers to resume their services. Amended mandatory rules modified by the state government, like giving a fitness test every 3 year must be removed as these volunteers are not government employees like Armed Force services. Though the volunteers definitely need to do physical activity, their work is not stringent as Armed forces that would require certain strict benchmarks to attain.

To be noted, even Armed Forces don't have to give fitness test after every 3 years.

This is an appeal to the Government of Maharashtra to re-activate and renew the services of Civil Defence Volunteers for our Maharashtra State considering benefit and safety of our fellow citizens.