THIRUVANANTHAPURAM :: 04th January 2014 ::Elaborate Arrangements for Makaravilakku
Elaborate arrangements will be put in place for the Makaravilakku festival at Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa Temple, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said here on Friday.
Chandy was briefing the media about the decisions taken at a special meeting chaired by him and attended by Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and Devaswom Minister V S Sivakumar. Besides central agencies such as the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF)and the Rapid Action Force (RAF), around 4,000 police personnel will be deployed at Sabarimala.
In case of blocking the vehicular traffic following unexpected rush of devotees, facilities would be provided in coordination with various government agencies and voluntary organisations. Chandy said that 1,000 KSRTC buses would be pressed into service during the Makaravilakku festival.
Drinking water will be ensured at Pampa, Sannidhanam and Nilakkal. Quality of water will be tested every hour. The water flow in Pampa river will be stabilised by opening the shutters of Kullar dam. More facilities will be provided to devotees who take the Vandipperiyar and traditional forest trekking paths to Sabarimala. Adequate lighting will be provided in Kozhikkanam and Uppupara areas for the Makaravilakku ceremony. ENS
http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/Elaborate-Arrangements-for-Makaravilakku/2014/01/04/article1981915.ece
DEHRADUN ::Jan 4, 2014 :: DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand high court has stayed the transfer of 70 acres of land sanctioned by the state government for a new battalion of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). The Congress-led Vijay Bahuguna government had hit headlines for quick land clearance for the NDRF's Uttarakhand battalion post the June 2013 deluge. The sanctioned land was supposed to be handed over to the NDRF by mid-January this year.
However, acting on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), the HC on Tuesday ordered a stay on the transfer of land till further orders. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Barin Ghosh and Justice Sarvesh Gupta passed the order.
Counsel for the Haridwar Municipal Corporation, Sandeep Kothari, told TOI that the PIL was filed by the corporator of Ward No. 12 in Haridwar, Rajesh Sharma. "The next hearing in the case is expected only after the winter vacations in the HC," Kothari added.
The state government had in November last year given a quick land clearance for the base of the 11th NDRF battalion in Haridwar. The specialised central force, which was at the forefront of the rescue and relief operations during the Himalayan Tsunami, has presently got 10 battalions, comprising about 15,000 personnel.
Haridwar was chosen as the base for the new NDRF battalion.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2014-01-04/india/45859408_1_ndrf-battalion-justice-sarvesh-gupta-pil
Calcutta:: 04 Jan 2014 ::Cut out the word management from the state disaster management department.
The absence of government divers near waterfalls, rivers, lakes and dams — all popular picnic spots — is proving to be a fatal oversight of the department, which even lacks the mandatory State Disaster Response Force to attend to exigencies.
Two days after a youth was feared drowned in Dassam Falls on January 1, Ranchi district administration has not yet succeeded in fishing out the body.
Officials, claiming that nearby Bundu village divers had on Friday jacked up their rates to Rs 30,000 for the job, called the demand “inhuman” and “uncalled for”. District officials and state tourism department called an “expert diver” from Jamshedpur this morning, one Gurmeet Singh, who said he would do the job for free.
In a similar tragedy on December 25, when a 16-year old student from Hazaribagh drowned in Dassam, his decomposed body was fished out two days later by divers of Pansakam village under Chirgu panchayat. They charged Rs 11,000 for the job.
Why Jharkhand, with popular water bodies with the potential to turn into watery graves for tourists and bathers, does not have a dedicated force of trained divers is a mystery.
Bundu SDPO Ram Sewak Rai, who had to bear the brunt of regular deaths at Dassam Falls, nailed the need when he said: “Drowning deaths at Dassam give us a tough time as we have to negotiate with villagers who are prepared to dive and fish out the victims. It is high time the government has its own fleet of divers whom we can call anytime from any part of the state.”
The state disaster management department, which made loud noises last year, calling Uttarakhand’s cloudburst and floods an “eye-opener”, has continued to cite funds crunch and lack of concrete proposals to start its own divers’ squad.
Be it the December 15 Ranchi Lake boat tragedy, Christmas drowning deaths in Tilaiya Dam and Dassam Falls, the repercussions due to lack of dedicated divers proved fatal.
After every drowning incident, hunting for divers and getting into a lengthy bargaining process on their fees made every human tragedy a farce.
“In the Ranchi Lake tragedy, Pahari Tola resident Abdul Manan’s body was brought out hours after the boat capsize as we didn’t find divers on the spot. Local people did all they could,” a district administration official said, refusing to be named.
Officials who came on record sounded eerily similar.
When contacted, Arun Kumar Singh, principal secretary of state disaster management department, said: “I am aware of the recent tragedies. Once the State Disaster Response Force, which is hanging in balance for the last three-four years, gets constituted, we hope to tackle emergencies in a better way.”
But on a deadline, Singh stayed mum.
However, the much-hyped disaster response force — on the lines of the elite National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) — will not guarantee much headway in individual drowning deaths.
Personnel from its battalions will be deployed only in cases of mass-scale emergency situations such as fires, floods, earthquakes and landslides.
On the efforts for individual rescues and recoveries, Ranchi district additional collector Virendra Kumar, who takes care of district disaster management work, said: “A few years ago, we tried to recruit divers on contract but didn’t get proper hands. Then, nothing much happened.”
“We feel bad (about the lack of the diving squad in the state) but we honestly don’t have funds earmarked for drowning incidents. Ideally, at the state or district level, dedicated divers are a must, especially in a state like Jharkhand that has many water bodies popular with tourists,” said Jaishree Jha, joint secretary of the disaster management department.
On why the department couldn’t initiate remedial action, Jha said: “We can’t work on a suo motu basis. Drowning, lightning and elephant deaths aren’t included in the central list of disasters. I have pressed the home ministry to at least include lightning in the list.”
Interestingly, even the file of the hyped State Disaster Response Force was lost and then found.
“In the fag end of December, I traced the file in the home department,” Jha said.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1140104/jsp/jharkhand/story_17748126.jsp#.UskX85aaoYc
