Shukla added the Government was considering introduction of a disaster management curriculum in these institutions.

Shukla was in the City in connection with NCDC's 41st Foundation Day. He said the Union Government had also approved shifting of the National Fire Service College to new premises, for which construction work would begin soon.

According to Shukla, the NCDC's conventional role in providing training to withstand aerial attacks and reduce loss of life and property was being changed and the Union Ministries of Home Affairs, Agriculture and Forests and Environment had decided to introduce new courses at the institute to train volunteers in coping with calamities like earthquakes, chemical disasters and environmentalproblems.

A need was being felt to develop specialised response teams similar to those in the United States to combat specific problems such as the Uttarkashi tragedy or the explosion at the Visakhapatanam petrochemical plant. With this in view, the Union Government was thinking of increasing the NCDCs' intake capacity to accommodate more candidates, Shukla said.

He said the institute and its 18 subsidiaries in various state capitals had trained more than 9.14 lakh volunteers in civil defence techniques, adding efforts were on to create civil protection awareness among the people.

He said booklets on civic protection education would be distributed in schools. Already, the NCDC has introduced demonstrations of civil defence techniques in the National Cadet Corps, he said.

Shukla said the Union Government has directed the Indian Administrative Service Academy at Mussorie and the Indian Police Academy, Hyderabad to send its trainees to NCDC for civil defence training.