Target of a house for each family to be achieved ahead of schedule – Hardeep Puri

NEW DELHI, 28 October 2018: Mr Hardeep Puri, Minister of State, MoHUA, Government of India on Thursday expressed optimism that by 2020 every family in the country will have a house of its own. The official estimation is that 11 million houses would have to be constructed to achieve this target. This was planned to be achieved by December 2019 itself.

Speaking at the ‘National Workshop on Earthquake Preparedness in India’ on October 25 & 26, 2018, organized by Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) in association with UNISDR Arise FICCI India Chapter and Policy Perspectives Foundation (PPF), Mr Puri added that the recommendations of this high level workshop to ensure that the new constructions are disaster resilient would be taken note of.

Gen JR Bhardwaj and Gen NC Vij, Chairman, UN Arise FICCI India Chapter earlier highlighted the work done by FICCI in Disaster Risk Reduction in industrial sector. Brig (Dr) BK Khanna presented role of private sector in Disaster Risk Reduction. FICCI was in the process of making members from business houses, industries, educational institutions & orgs working in DRR field.

FICCI also plans to make all large, medium & large size industries disaster resilient in the time frame given in the (SDG) Sustainable development goals of the Sendai Framework. He also read out the pledge of FICCI as enunciated by Mr Nirankar Saxena, Deputy Secy Gen- ‘FICCI for ZERO TOLERANCE to Natural Disasters’ in the private sector by 2030. FICCI intends to create business opportunities for private sector in DRR alongside the Govt and plans to call for grand challenge to harness and attract innovations in reducing risks on earthquakes, floods and drought.

FICCI has become a Member of UNISDR ARISE since August 2017.  ARISE is UNISDR initiative in the private sector for disaster risk reduction. UNISDR ARISE FICCI INDIA Chapter is the name given to this project from FICCI and it is the one which is co-sponsoring this national level event.

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The objective of this Workshop was to have in-depth discussions with professionals, experts and academicians in this field on key issues like vulnerability, mitigation measures, preparedness, response mechanism etc aimed at identifying the gaps and appropriate recommendations towards earthquake risk reduction.  The Workshop followed five technical sessions, besides the Inaugural and Valedictory. Topics on Earthquake Risk Reduction, Improving Earthquake Safety of Built Environment and Capacity Building for Earthquake Disaster Mitigation & Preparedness, Earthquake Response Capabilities and gaps and Public Private Partnership.

The speakers and panelists represented experts, technocrats and professionals from Ministry of Earth Sciences, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), NIDM, NDRF, IITs Delhi, Mumbai, Kanpur, Gandhi Nagar and Jodhpur, JNU, FICCI and International experts in this field etc. The deliberations and proceedings of this workshop was useful for technocrats, engineers, architects and professionals directly or indirectly associated with planning, construction and maintenance in the infrastructure sector, including real estate. This workshop was also helpful for professionals in the field of Disaster Management and Disaster Risk Reduction.

The takeaway from the Workshop was that buildings and infrastructures have to be made disaster resilient & the community and practitioners must have adequate knowledge on the perceived disasters along with know how to save lives and with the loss of infrastructure.

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