Radiation detection device in police stations

HYDERABAD: To enable the country to face chemical, biological and radiation warfare, the National Disaster Management Authority plans to equip 1,000 police stations across the country with a mobile radiation detection device.“In Andhra Pradesh, about 50 police stations will be provided with this device and policemen will be trained to deal with the aftermath of a blast and check for the presence of radiological agents.The decision was taken after the detection of radiological agents at a scrapyard in Mayapuri in Delhi in 2010,” said NDMA vice-chairman Marri Shashidhar Reddy at a mock mass casualty drill held at Gandhi Medical College here on Sunday.At the national level, four battalions have been trained and eight are currently undergoing training in handling CBR threats.“As part of handling the threat of a dirty bomb or CBR attacks, the NDMA plans to set up State Disaster Response Forces as a part of the initial response to a terror disaster,” Reddy said.The drill was organised on the concluding day of the national conference of International Trauma Care.The drill provided insight into different stages of response to mass casualties due to explosion at a public gathering.Police force, followed by bomb detection squad, fire fighting squad and Octopus commandos participated in different stages of the drill.Ambulance service and paramedic personnel stepped in to separate the critically injured from the dead and the wounded.“Though it was a mock drill, in case of real-life scenarios we have to assume the possibility of a series of similar attacks and mobilise our response system accordingly,” explained Shashidhar Reddy.