Haryana to train 5,200 more youth as disaster responders; ₹12.16 crore plan for 14 districts

Chandigarh, September 17: Haryana will expand its disaster-response volunteer network by training 5,200 youth in 14 more districts, with each trained volunteer to be provided an Emergency Responder Kit and three-year life and medical insurance cover.

Haryana Chief Secretary Sh. Anurag Rastogi presided over a meeting of the State Executive Committee on disaster management on Thursday.

Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management, Dr. Sumita Misra said in the meeting that the National Disaster Management Authority's Yuva Aapda Mitra Scheme had been implemented in eight districts of Haryana during 2025-26, targeting the training of 5,400 youth volunteers from the NCC, NSS, Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan and Bharat Scouts and Guides.

Dr. Misra said the state now proposes to expand the programme to the remaining 14 districts as the Haryana Yuva Aapda Mitra Scheme, creating a network of another 5,200 trained volunteers based on the population and vulnerability profile of individual districts.

She said volunteers would be selected from the NCC, NSS, NYKS and Bharat Scouts and Guides through their designated nodal officers, while District Disaster Management Authorities would coordinate the training programmes.

The volunteers will undergo seven-day residential training in batches of 35 to 50. The training, based on NDMA-approved modules, will include theoretical and practical sessions on flood safety and response, fire-extinguisher handling, search and rescue techniques, first aid and basic emergency response.

The trained volunteers will be associated with district administrations and deployed during mock drills and emergency preparedness exercises conducted by district authorities, NDMA, NDRF and SDRF. They will also assist in crowd management at mass gatherings, relief distribution and humanitarian operations.

The committee also took up ex-post facto approval of compensation already released to farmers for crop losses caused by adverse weather.

Dr. Misra said ₹52.14 crore had been released for damage to the 2024-25 Rabi crop caused by rainfall and hailstorms. The agenda also covered compensation for the 2025 Kharif crop damaged by heavy rainfall and waterlogging, for which the presentation records releases of ₹116.15 crore and ₹370.52 crore.

Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Sh. Sudhir Rajpal, Secretary, Revenue & Disaster Management Department, Sh. Mani Ram Sharma, and other senior officers were present in the meeting.