New Delhi, Jan 19 (PTI) "Negative support" was received by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) when it went to West Bengal to give succour to the people during the 2020 Amphan cyclone, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said here on Thursday.

Rai said this while speaking at the 18th Raising Day celebrations of the NDRF. He neither elaborated further nor specified from whom the negative support was received.

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The federal contingency force was established on this day in 2016. Severe cyclonic storm Amphan wreaked havoc in May, 2020 in West Bengal with winds gusting up to a speed of 185 km across many parts, killing around 100 people in the state.

"Big damage is done due to small mistakes but no one cares about it and sometimes the NDRF is not able to get the desired result.

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"However, I will request the NDRF that like in the past you have shown courage during disasters by even not caring for your comfort, not caring for your respect, you have gone beyond your call of duty, especially during Amphan and we saw the NDRF did so much to save Bengal, probably in the face of negative support it was getting..."

"Had NDRF not shown the courage...it was not that someone was deliberately putting the lives at risk... but there was less trust on the forecast made by agencies but the NDRF never thought about all this and it decided that if the forecast is there, we have to keep ourselves prepared (to undertake its work in West Bengal)," he said.

The institutions led by the Prime Minister have fought big disasters effectively and I want to thank all institutions that work unitedly during disasters, he said.

The NDRF has 16 battalions and 28 regional response centres (RRCs), comprising more than 18,000 personnel across the country.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)