ORGANIZATION

Defense of the people, by the people & for the people.

ABOUT US:

HOMEGUARDS

During World War –II Homeguards a voluntary organisation for local Defence was raised in the United Kingdom. In India on December 6 1946 Homeguards were raised in Bombay to assist in controlling Civil disturbances.

In the wake of Chinese aggression of in 1962 all voluntary organizations of States and Union territory were merged into one All India Homeguards which is voluntary both in concept and character.

ROLE OF HOMEGUARDS

To serve as an Auxiliary to the police
Assist the community in emergency
Promote communal harmony
Protect weaker sections of the society
Participate in Scio-economic and welfare activities

ROLE OF HOMEGUARDS IN CIVIL DEFENCE DUTIES

Incident control and Reconnaissance parties
Rescue parties
Tralior pump parties
Mobile canteen
Part time Instructors

CIVIL DEFENCE

Civil Defence in India owes its origin to the erstwhile Air Raid Precautions (ARP) Organisation raised and operated during World War-II by the Ministry of Defence to safeguard the life and property of the civilian population and also to maintain the continuity of production and economic activity of the nation during the war time.

Subsequent to the Chinese aggression in 1962 and Indo-Pak conflict in 1965, there was a considerable rethinking about the policy and scope of Civil Defence which culminated in the Civil Defence Act of 1968.

AIMS OF CIVIL DEFENCE

to save life
to minimize the damage to the property
continuity of production
to keep up the high morale of public

AUXILIARY POLICE (NOW UT DISASTER RESPONSE FORCE)

The erstwhile Homeguards came into existence after Indo-Pak war in 1965 and were put on consolidated wages. They immediately started showing their existence through protracted training programmes and call-up duties, as such they were organised into two Battalions Ist & 2nd and brought under graded pay scale on Ist June 1979. Due to their excellent performance and sincerity both the Battalions were made permanent by the State Govt. thus bringing them at par with regular employees of the Force.

During the year 1989 when the voluntary Homeguards scheme prevalent in the country was introduced in the State also, the nomenclature of these two battalions was conspicuously changed as Aux. Police. The man power of these battalions is spread out in whole of the state with almost a coy in each of the districts. The coys have been deployed on static guard duties, law and order duties, traffic duty and security duty also.

OUR MISSION & VISION:

MISSION

"Our mission is empowerment of the common man by providing him the skills and resources to defend himself & others in the face of any attack/ calamity. Civil Defence which is a voluntary service is primarily geared up to save lives, to minimize damage to properties, maintain continuity of production & to keep up the high morale of public during any hostile attack."

VISION

"Mitigating Disaster effectively is another endeavor of Civil Defence in recent times. Efforts are on to revamp Civil Defence Organisation to widen its scope with a view to strengthen its role in Disaster management. We value our most important resource - our volunteers - and help to create a culture that promotes team work to achieve efficiency, effectiveness and operational synergy in facing the challenges. The appropriate course of action will be empowerment of the common man and capacity building to meet any natural or man made disaster. This would constantly strive to make Jammu & Kashmir a safer place."

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE:

Directors of Civil Defense

The State Government may, for the purpose of co-ordinating the activities of the Controllers of Civil Defence within the State appoint a Director of Civil Defence.

Controller of Civil Defense

The State Government may appoint a person, not being in its opinion, below the rank of a District Magistrate to be known as the “Controller”.

Deputy Controller of Civil Defense

Under certain conditions the State Govt. may also appoint Deputy Controller of Civil Defence in appropriate rank upto that of Deputy Collector, but not inferior to that of a sub-Divisional Magistrate.

Civil Defense Corps

The State Government may constitute, for any area within the State, a body of a person to be called the Civil Defence Corps.

TRAINING

Training is an integral part of Homeguards and Civil Defence organisation. To cater the need of Homeguards and Civil Defence volunteer training Central Training Institute has been established one in Jammu and one in Kashmir. The Jammu & Kashmir Central Training Institute of Homeguards & Civil Defence came into existence with a view to provide training to the Homeguards & Civil Defence volunteers. The overriding objective is to create high quality manpower for manning disasters effectively and reaching out to the affected populace during any eventuality.

The role of Homeguards & Civil Defence have assumed greater significance in view of the frequent disasters. Homeguards volunteers are given basic training in drill with and without arms, weapon training, fire discipline, crowd control, field craft, patrolling, map reading and Civil Defence training including fire fighting, rescue, first-aid, flood relief etc. The Institute in the recent past organised training on “Rescue operation and Disaster management” for wardens of CD town Jammu in which resource persons from various Govt. Deptt., PSUs and Pvt. Enterprises gave presentations and delivered lectures.

The training programme for Homeguards can be classified into four broad categories:

Basic Training : 35days training in the first year of Joining including 10days camp training
Refresher Training : In the 2nd year of Joining including 08days camp training
Advance Training
Leadership Training : 21 days training for section & platoon Commdr. 30 days for company commanders

Training for Civil Defence volunteers

Orientation Course training in drill and discipline for Civil Defence wardens/volunteers

CTI Role in Disaster Management

At state level CTI have been designated as the Nodal training centre for incident management. It provides two-tier training:-

Training to trainers who shall mobilized further training.
Maximum number of Civil Defence wardens, volunteers and citizens to be trained by the trainer
Training of specialized search and rescue teams (a multi disciplinary team) constituted of Police, Homeguards, PHE, F&E, Health, PWD, RDD, PDD, Municipality Corporation.

Off-camps training:

CTI instructors also conduct number of Civil Defence basic training for Civil Defence volunteers/orientation programme to Civil Defence volunteers in various Civil Defence towns both in Jammu & Kashmir.

Demonstration/Mock Exercises

In order to create awareness among general masses and to check response time, CTI instructors alongwith Civil Defence volunteers organize demonstration/mock exercises in various CD towns.

Infrastructural upgradation

Initiatives have been taken to strengthen infrastructure both at Srinagar and Jammu. Efforts are on to acquire land for the construction of full fledged central training institute Jammu/Kashmir comprising of administrative complex, residential accommodation for instructors and hostel complex for trainees. In order to strengthen it further trained instructors are posted in the CTI for imparting training to the volunteers. Besides guest lecturer are invited to share their expertise about the disaster management.