Bangalore's Civil Defence Wing at work.
Tackling raging fires. Rescuing those trapped in building collapses. Attending to victims of natural disasters. These noble duties just got added to the to-do list of thousands of Bangalore techies recently.
Nearly 8000 professionals in India's IT hub have volunteered to be a part of the National Disaster Management Authority or NDMA's Civil Defence Wing, which is witnessing a gradual rise in enrollment. An initiative of the Union Home Ministry, the Wing aims to recruit at least one percent of a city's population as part of the volunteer force.
Although Bangalore is far from that figure, there are a few encouraging trends. Almost 40 per cent of the Civil Defence wing is constituted by women. Also, the corporates in the city have relaxed their working hours to let their employees participate in the rescue and relief missions or attend to training.
"We re-schedule our working hours, sometimes extending to the weekends. If need be, we start early morning but we do not compromise on our work. In our organization, we have 17 people as part of Civil Defence. We are called commandos or wardens," 28-year-old Kiran says.
The Civil Defence members go through a three-level training after a background check. Once recruited, they are only an SMS away when required, appearing at the disaster sites in their fluorescent jackets.
During the Malleshwaram blast in April this year, it was this team which first rushed to the spot and helped with rescue.
"The techies are helping physically, but their knowledge also comes in handy to help set up a modern force. We need support from IT employees to build a control room which can bring in images from the disaster site," says Dr Chetan, Chief Commander of Civil Defence in Karnataka.
Apart from accidents and disasters, the team also helps out during elections or major festivals to manage the crowds on the streets.