Weaving A Safety Net - Area Suraksha Mitra

Be ready. Stay ready.’ It’s the simple message that’s knitting together people’s energies to stay safe in the city. Area Suraksha Mitra, a Civil Defence initiative in partnership with Janaagraha, and others, was launched in February 2009, as part of revitalization efforts of the organization. The initiative aims to build a prepared citizenry through emergency and neighbourhood safety training.

Citywide Platform

As part of the efforts, the city has been divided into 50 Civil Defence Divisions based on police station jurisdictions. Every division comprises 122 volunteers with each division headed by a ‘Divisional Warden’, who will in turn be supported by a ‘Deputy Divisional Warden’. These two members are further reinforced by 10 Post Wardens, 10 Deputy Post Wardens and 100 Sector Wardens or Area Suraksha Mitras.

The unique feature of this is that the wardens are available to their immediate neighbourhood of 300 households. The objective from hereon is to have all people in the neighbourhood trained and ready to respond. The training is open to all, and those interested to join Civil Defence must complete an enrolment form available at the Civil Defence headquarters on #No.1 Annaswamy Mudaliar Road in Bengaluru. Alternatively interested volunteers can also sign up at civildefense.areasm.org

Once the enrolment form has been filled, the volunteers will then train in rescue, fire, first aid, CPR and so on. Once this is completed, wardens or Area Suraksha Mitras are inducted into Civil Defense. A verification process will soon ensue to establish address proof and check prior police records of the volunteers. The next step will give wardens / Area Suraksha Mitras the opportunity to learn specialized courses in community policing, rifle training, IED, and so on.

Over the past 18 months the safety net has spread over 17 divisions spanning six of the seven police zones in north, north-east, south, and south-east, west and central Bengaluru.

In the West Zone
CD4: Cottonpet & JJ Nagar
CD7: Vijaynagar & Chandra Layout
CD9: Magadi Road and Kempapura Agrahara

North Zone
CD12: Srirampuram
CD13: Soledevanahalli, Vidyaranyapura, and Gangamma Gudi
CD16: Rajagopalnagar and Peenya
CD18: Sanjay Nagar and Hebbala

Central Zone
CD 28: Sheshadripuram and High Grounds

South Zone
CD33: Shankarpura,
Thyagarajnagar and Basanvanagudi,
CD37: Siddapura, Adugodi

South East Zone CD45: Madiwala and Koramangala

East Zone CD38:Ulsoor & Indiranagar
CD39: Byapannali, Mahadevapura and JB Nagar
CD40:Frazer Town, and DJ Halli
CD41: Hennur and KG Halli
CD 44: Commercial Street, Shivajinagar,Bharatinagar

First woman Divisional Warden takes charge

In Division 38, Cavita Mehra became the first woman Civil Defence Divisional Warden, on 22 May 2010. Speaking at an event, Cavita said: “I will now work hard to ensure that our team is strengthened through various outreach programs and training sessions. I look forward to get an opportunity to work as a soldier in protecting the dignity and freedom of our fellow citizens.”

Two programmes are currently on the anvil in her division:

One day training in Headquarters, in First Aid & CPR, Rifle Training & Waterman ship
Two day induction training in Civil Defence Headquarters

It’s an idea gaining traction in the corporate world as well. Sasken took the lead in underlining the importance of a culture of safety. Their commitment goes beyond social responsibility and demonstrates leadership for a better society. Over 200 people gathered at Sasken’s Domlur facility to participate in learning about ways to be involved in safety.

In his opening remarks, G. Venkatesh, the CTO of Sasken, spoke on his childhood experiences in understanding fire safety and using that later in his own career. “It’s an every day need,” he stated, focusing on the need to be prepared every day.

Major Gen. T.M John (Retd) spoke about the origin of Civil Defence and the prevailing organizational structure in the city. He highlighted the relevance of the system in current times, when preparedness for disasters, terrorism, neighbourhood is not upto speed. Uday Vijayan, spoke on his personal experience of losing his son in the recent fire tragedy at Carlton. He has since started the Beyond Carlton group with a mission to get people trained in fire safety measures. Also present at the event was the Deputy Divisional warden of the area Shalini Charles, who had a word of praise for the kind of training offered by the Training Academy at the Civil Defence and also recommended ways to strengthen the division as Area Suraksha Mitras. Forty Saskenians signed up! Cheryl Rebello, Communications Coordinator at Janaagraha, spoke on the origins of the Area Suraksha Mitra campaign flagged off as part of revitalization efforts of Civil Defence in Bengaluru. Listed are five important take-away messages from the programme.

The five messages:

Disasters/terror incidents/accidents happen quickly and without compassion.
This rung true in the Mangalore air tragedy. It was the local people who first kickstarted rescue efforts. During the 26/11 attacks at the Taj Hotel, the NSG commandos would not have managed the rescue operations so efficiently if it were not for the help from civilians. It is the duty if every citizen to be trained in rescue, fire safety, self defence and so on.
Don’t think if, think when!
Think about this – what would you do if an accident occurred? How would you save yourself? Your colleagues?
Learn something new – To your learning curve, and your aspiration to learn something new, add this. Train for safety, to respond to a
local neighbourhood call, to a nation’s call.
Respond – it’s an every-day call – In the daily routine of life there are many situations that need someone to take the lead and respond. Training prepares you to see them.
From ‘it could be you’ – to ‘it is you’. It could be you – is a scenario, where you are a victim. It is you – is about you taking charge.
Be empowered to take a leadership position in a contingency, or an emergency.

Join Civil Defence as an Area Suraksha Mitra to join the safety net for our city.

-- Cheryl Rebello--
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Cheryl is the Communications Coordinator at Janaagraha . She can be contacted at cheryl@janaagraha.org