UK Disaster June - July, 2013 ....... let it be a joint effort to fight this tragedy

http://t.co/JY0eBbqVxc

Uttarakhand: No unilateral rescue work by states

Vishwa Mohan & Bharti Jain,TNN | Jun 25, 2013, 06.36AM IST 

NEW DELHI: Keeping in mind the operational difficulties, states which have come forward to join the relief and rescue operations in Uttarakhand will have to put their resources at the disposal of the state government, which will then decide on their deployment. Also, VIPs will not get landing permission in areas where their presence may hamper rescue work.

"We advise all VIPs not to visit Uttarakhand now. All agencies are engaged in relief and rescue efforts... Such visits hamper their work," home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said on Monday.

He told reporters that no VIP would be given landing permission in the flood-ravaged areas of the state.

Incidentally, Shinde's advice came on a day when Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi reached the disaster-hit state. Officials, however, said the visit till Dehradun would not be a problem, indicating that such visits will continue provided the VIPs do not go to the places where relief work is going on.

"VIPs are not going to those areas where people are stranded. They just make an aerial visit and go back. They are also not using the helipad made for rescue work," Uttarakhand chief minister Vijay Bahuguna was quoted as saying on Monday.

A number of VIPs have visited Uttarakhand in the past one week. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi made an aerial assessment, while Shinde, chief ministers Narendra Modi (Gujarat), B S Hooda (Haryana), Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan) and Prithviraj Chavan (Maharashtra) visited the state to review relief operations.

The decision to restrict states from carrying out relief works on their own was taken on Monday in the backdrop of certain concerns expressed by armed and paramilitary personnel who found it difficult to operate smoothly due to constant interference caused by state officials. They complained during review meeting that the individual states were more concerned about rescuing people of their own domicile, unlike Army, IAF, ITBP and NDRF personnel who treat each and every person equally.

"There has been confusion after some state governments took separate initiatives to rescue their own people. From now onwards, there will be single coordination channel which will be monitored by the Uttarakhand government for rescue operations," a senior home ministry official said.

A number of states including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab and Haryana among others had sent their officials to Uttarakhand for relief works in the past one week. There have also been instances where various state government choppers engaged in relief works limited themselves to rescuing their "own people" and refusing to airlift people from other states.

Taking this in view, the Uttarakhand government has now made it clear that if any state government wants to send helicopters or other mode of transport, they should send them to the state government which will make its best efforts to rescue the people of that state.

"The Uttarakhand government will have the exclusive mandate to operate these choppers and decide on their deployment. Clear directions have now been issued to bring choppers from other states under a single agency - the Uttarakhand government - which will ensure their optimal deployment," said the official.

With reports indicating that private taxi operators are charging exorbitant fares to transport the stranded from Guptakashi and Joshimath, the Centre has advised the Uttarakhand government to take these taxis under its wing and ensure that a regulated fare is paid to the operators.

Uttarakhand disaster .... the crisis brings the best out of Armed forces, ITBP and NDRF .... the personnel act bravely in emergency situations

http://t.co/xMbInYzxc0

All pilgrims rescued from Kedarnath, focus shifts to Badrinath and Harsil

Anand Soondas, Vishwa Mohan & Deeptiman Tiwary,TNN |Jun 24, 2013, 12.37AM IST 

A man showing photograph of his missing family members to pilgrims rescued from Gauri Kund at Guptakashi.

Badrinath\Dehradun\New Delhi: 

Amid the first official confirmation that more than 5,000 people perished in the Uttarakhand catastrophe, massive efforts to save thousands of pilgrims stranded in Kedarnath and Badrinath achieved a big breakthrough with rescue teams scooping up nearly 12,000 survivors against the looming threat of rains, disease and starvation.

Of those brought to safety, 7,000 had been trapped in the Kedarnath and Gaurikund areas — the stretch that bore the brunt of the deluge.

However, the fate of around 2,000 pilgrims stuck in Harsil near Uttarkashi remains vulnerable, and will see a concerted action from the rescue teams.

Although 10,000 people are still to be taken out from Badrinath, Harsil and Jungle Chatti, it was those marooned in Kedarnath and Gaurikund who had looked really precarious. Weak from days of starvation and facing the real risk of outbreak of epidemic in an area littered with rotting bodies, the hapless lot had looked particularly vulnerable against the threat of hostile weather.

The cloud burst had wreaked havoc in the area and smashed infrastructure, leaving the survivors without any shelter. The situation of those stuck in Badrinath is relatively better.

In short, the task of saving thousands of lives which appeared hopeless on Saturday evening with the clock ticking away still seemed daunting on Sunday but mercifully, not insurmountable. "The focus of the operation on Monday will be Harsil where around 2,000 pilgrims are stranded in vulnerable conditions," an official said.

However, the weather continues to be a worry. "Rains on Tuesday are our main worry... if we get three to four hours of window tomorrow, we can do well," Air Marshal S B Deo, DG, Air Operations, told reporters.

With Kedarnath and Gaurikund region — the epicentre of the destruction — virtually cleared of pilgrims, authorities can focus on those who remain in Badrinath and Harsil. The local police reached Kedarnath and Gaurikund on Sunday and have started the process of identification of bodies.

The 5,000 pilgrims who remain in Badrinath have been put up in different hotels, as Army and ITBP personnel try to step up their operations to get them out of the area. Around 100 people remain in Gaurikund.

The achievement of the Army, IAF, ITBP and NDRF will help contain the toll from the calamity which Uttarakhand's disaster management minister Yashpal Arya said was "at least 5,000". "At least 5,000 people must have been killed in the deluge," Arya told reporters at Jolly Grant airport in the state capital.





This was a five-fold jump from the 1,000 deaths confirmed by chief minister Vijay Bahuguna on Saturday. This was also a grim validation of the widely held estimate that, with thousands still unaccounted for amid reports of dozens of villages been swept away, the casualty could reach frightening proportions.

The backdrop made the success of the rescue effort look spectacular, especially considering that the teams ran against time to finish the operation before rains lashed the area again.

The multi-agency effort could pull off the feat thanks to a combination of factors, ranging from seamless coordination to sheer human grit.

The IAF on Sunday rescued more than 3,200 people and airdropped relief material as well as Army and NDRF personnel in flood-hit areas of Uttarakhand.

The NDRF used the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) 'Netra' to scan the location for survivors, while the authorities distributed 50 satellite phones imported early on Sunday from Hong Kong to facilitate coordination among the agencies.

The ITBP managed to erect a rope bridge on the Alaknanda at Lambagad in the Badrinath area, helping rescue teams to double the number of evacuations. Paramilitary troopers have also managed to open up a road for vehicular traffic at Hanuman Chatti........................http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTMvMDYvMjQjQXIwMDMwMQ==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

Safe City Project ..... Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad

http://t.co/GppQxI3InU

Copters, UAVs to man skies in metros

Vishwa Mohan,TNN | Jun 24, 2013, 02.03AM IST 

NEW DELHI: Seven metropolitan cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Ahmedabad — will soon have individual air surveillance systems where helicopters with gun-toting commandos, balloons fitted with cameras and sophisticated sensors and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will keep round-the-clock vigil over the cities.

The system, which was successfully used in the Capital during the 2010 Commonwealth Games, will now be replicated in all these cities under the 'Safe City Project' of the home ministry. It will be a permanent feature in all the seven metropolitan cities, unlike the one used in Delhi only during the Games period.

The ministry had in February approved Rs 432 crore for this purpose which is an integral part of the mega-city policing plan of the government. The CCTV surveillance, command control centre, highway patrol cars and fusion centre (keeping all data having bearing on safety and security at one place) are other components of this project.

The fund will be used to procure modern equipment like GPS/GIS for dial 100 system and patrol cars, CCTV systems, vehicle scanners, vehicle number plate identification system, cyber patrol and communication monitoring system and integrated GIS-based automated vehicle tracking and management system.

In its latest guidelines on the 'Safe City Project', the ministry said, "Air surveillance can be obtained by positioning various equipment i.e. balloons, UAVs, helicopters etc which should have gadgets like cameras, sensors etc to cater to specialized requirements on the occasion."

The data (video, audio, text) collected from these devices would be fed to the command control centre (CCC) for necessary action for both preventive and post-incident operations.

It said the CCC - having a network of computer systems -- would be the heart of the Safe City Project. Such centres - one each in every city - will have the capacity to store, analyze and disseminate data, wherever required, though a 'fusion centre'. The fusion centre will keep comprehensive database from various fields like vehicle registration numbers, UID numbers of citizens, residential addresses, PAN card details and crime-related details. It will, eventually, be linked with the Centre's NATGRID - National Intelligence Grid - project.

The Mega City Policing plan was introduced by the government under the Modernisation of Police Forces Scheme in 2005-06. The latest guidelines have, however, been framed with a view to equip police with sophisticated gadgets and air surveillance systems in the seven cities so as to enable them to meet the challenges of modern times.

"The final outcome of these guidelines is to ensure proper implementation of the project in the major cities of Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Ahmedabad. As a result of this, police will find itself well-equipped for preventing crime and will be better able to respond to and detect crime," the ministry said.

Emphasizing on CCTV networks under the project, the ministry said the network must cover vital public places and critical infrastructure. It could also cover public places like airports, railway stations, Metro stations, bus stations, public hospitals, universities, schools and colleges, major crossings and roundabouts on roads and important government buildings.

"Special care may be taken to cover areas which are more densely populated or prone to crimes. The CCTV network should be based on wireless system to the extent possible, except in certain places which are important from national security point of view, wherein it may be advisable to share data openly," the ministry said.

It suggested that private sector industries and business houses may be exhorted to install similar and compatible CCTV network from where data generated could be transmitted to the central command and control room.

Besides technical components like CCC, UAVs, fusion centre and CCTVs, the safe city project has non-technical component as well. It includes community policing, training of cops in soft skills and increasing the strength of women police in all police stations across these seven cities.......................http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JS00vMjAxMy8wNi8yNCNBcjAwMTA3&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom 

Uttarakhand Disaster.....Coordination is the key issue after every disaster .... the UK tragedy showed how grave it was

http://t.co/lXofXQ75db

Lack of coordination hampers relief and rescue operations in Uttarakhand

Vishwa Mohan,TNN | Jun 21, 2013, 09.57PM IST 

NEW DELHI: Admitting that the lack of synergy among different agencies was hampering relief and rescue operations in Uttarakhand, the Centre on Friday appointed an NDMA member as 'nodal' officer to coordinate with different central and state agencies - the absence of which saw lot of confusion on the ground in the past five days.

Though armed and paramilitary forces have been working round the clock to evacuate the stranded people to safer places, the magnitude of the disaster and extent of damage left individual agencies to work without knowing the 'priority' area.

The government, however, finally woke up to the need of coordination when the home ministry during a review meeting on relief and rescue operations on Friday realized that every agency has, virtually, been working independently leaving vast stretch of affected areas remain untouched.

After the meeting, home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said since there was an impression that the lack of coordination was hampering the government's mitigation efforts, the ministry decided to appoint the NDMA member and former Union home secretary VK Duggal as nodal officer to coordinate the relief and rescue operations.

Waking up to the need of coordination when officials pitched for the need of a point-person who can not only bring synergy among different agencies but can also work as a 'link' between central and state authorities, the ministry asked Duggal to operate from Deharadun.

Shinde will, during his visit to Uttarakhand on Saturday, impress upon the state authorities to work in coordination with the central agencies so that the benefit of the relief works reach far and wide with maximum impact on the ground. The government has, meanwhile, released an amount of Rs 145 crore from State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to Uttarakhand.

Although the home ministry officials remained tightlipped as to why did the Centre wake up so late when the 'nodal' officer should have ideally been appointed on day one, they emphasized on the need to have a mechanism of a 'centralized command centre' which can coordinate with all agencies in disaster situation keeping the best international practice in mind.

They pointed out that though the government had created a central body - National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) - to lay down policies on disaster management and frame related guidelines under Disaster Management Act eight year ago, the concept of 'centralized command centre' — where all states and central agencies can report to or take order from -- could not take its root without any legislative backing.

"In the context of federal set-up, the responsibility to formulate the government response to a natural calamity is essentially that of the concerned state government. This provision, however, does not augur well when country faces disaster like Uttarakhand", said an official.

At present, there is a mechanism of Cabinet Committee on Disaster Management, headed by Prime Minister, and the National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC) - chaired by Cabinet secretary - to oversee the coordination and give directions in such a situation.

A section within the government, however, believed that such a mechanism cannot work effectively unless the country creates a 'centralized command centre' where even states can report without being involved in nitty-gritty of provisions of federal structure...........................http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDEzLzA2LzIyI0FyMDE2MDg=&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

AND

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JS00vMjAxMy8wNi8xOCNBcjAwNjAx&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

Politicians faced the heat when they became targets of Maoists

http://t.co/Kz4hKPUJEg

Scared netas from Maoist-hit states plead for security cover

Vishwa Mohan,TNN | Jun 15, 2013, 06.45AM IST 

NEW DELHI: Requests have been pouring in from politicians of Maoist-hit states for upgrading their security cover in the wake of the May 25 Chhattisgarh incident that left 29 people, including Congress leaders, dead in the daring Naxal attack.

So far, the Centre has received such requests from over a dozen politicians, including the new Congress chief of Chhattisgarh Charan Das Mahant, and family members of the slain party leader Mahendra Karma. Karma's wife and four sons made their requests on Friday, when they met Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde here.

Das, MP from Korba and Union minister of state for food processing and agriculture, may be considered for 'Z+' category of security, which is the highest category having 32 security personnel including house guards. Similarly, security of former Jharkhand chief ministers Babulal Marandi and Arjun Munda may also be upgraded to 'Z+'.

MLAs and local leaders of Congress, BJP and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) are also among those who have formally requested Shinde for upgrading their security. All the requests had come in from Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha in the past fortnight.

"Most of those who requested for security citing threats from Maoists have already in the list of respective state protectee, but their requests are being processed whether they actually need 'upgraded' security cover keeping in mind threat perception," said a senior home ministry official.

He said the respective state governments had already taken decisions and upgraded security of local politicians. The home ministry is processing their requests and will extend such leaders the adequate cover when they visit the national Capital as well, he added.

The West Bengal government has taken the lead in upgrading security cover of as many as six district-level leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress. All of them are now getting 'Z' category (having 22 security personnel, including house guards) as against the 'X' and 'Y' categories security that were given to them before the May 25 incident.

"The ongoing panchayat polls appears to have prompted the state government to quickly acted on such requests," said an official here, adding other states too have paid heed to similar demands.

Jharkhand, which is currently under the President's rule, has moved a step forward by activating a special monitoring cell within the state police Special Branch to monitor the movement of leaders — irrespective of their political affiliations — in the Maoist-dominated areas.

After meeting Shinde, Karma's kin said they continued to receive threats from the Red ultras who asked them to leave their ancestral place and demanded security.

Accompanied by Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh, Karma's son Deepak said, "We want security. The Naxals asked us to leave our ancestral place in Bastar and warned of dire consequences if we do not follow their diktat....The home minister assured us that he would examine their demands sympathetically and do the needful as early as possible".

Union home secretary R K Singh and director of Intelligence Bureau (IB) Asif Ibrahim were also present during the meeting where Karma's sons are learnt to have expressed their views on how to handle the Maoist menace in Chhattisgarh.

Maoists attack passenger train in Jamui; Different theories are doing round to know the exact reason....Is it not just a blame-game?

http://t.co/bmjugYIy8G

Maoists find Bihar a 'soft' target; Centre to ask state to pull up its socks

Vishwa Mohan,TNN | Jun 13, 2013, 11.30PM IST 

NEW DELHI: Attack on a passenger train by Maoists may not be new to this region, but the Thursday incident appeared to be a case where the Red Ultras — who have been facing tremendous pressure in Jharkhand — preferred to turn to Bihar because the state has, of late, become a soft target in absence of major anti-Naxalite operations there.

Bihar is among the three Maoist-affected states which have shown more number of deaths in Naxalite violence in the current year as compared to the corresponding period last year. The state had reported 10 deaths in 89 incidents last year, whereas, it witnessed 24 deaths in 90 incidents in 2013.

The figures of Naxalite violence and casualties have prompted officials here in the home ministry to think that the state has been facing such a situation because it failed to carry out anti-Maoist operations in an expected manner. The assertion is, however, vehemently denied by the state police top brass.

State officials argued that had this been the case, Andhra Pradesh — which had almost eliminated the ultras from the state — would not have reported higher number of deaths. Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are the other two states which have reported more number of deaths this year as compared to what they had reported till June 13 last year.

The state officials claimed that Bihar has, in fact, been carrying out intelligence-based specific operations and been quite successful in arresting maximum number of ultras this year.

"Only killing Maoist is not a sign of big operation," said a top state police official, adding the clearing of the entire Chakarbanda area — which had once been the Maoists' stronghold where police did not even think of entering — in Gaya district is an example how the state has been doing intelligence-based operation quietly.

Incidentally, the Jamui incident on Thursday which saw killing of three persons, including an RPF jawan, and injuring five others took place exactly a week after the Railway Protection Force (RPF) had sent an alert to all its units in Naxalite-affected states, asking them to increase presence of armed personnel in trains passing through such areas and follow all the standard operating procedure of guarding the moving trains.

Officials here said the motive behind such attack was generally to attack security (RPF) personnel and loot their weapons.

Preliminary reports from the state indicated that the Jamui incident could be the handiwork of local Jan Militia (of Munger-Giridih belt), which carries out such surprise attacks at vulnerable targets including passenger trains. Since the area in Jharkhand (Giridih area) has, virtually, become non-reachable for the ultras due to continuous anti-Naxalite operations, the Jan Militia turned to Bihar.

The Centre has, meanwhile, rushed two companies (200 personnel) of CRPF to the spot to carry out a combing-cum-search operation against the Maoists who retreated into the forest after carrying out the daring daylight attack on the train.

Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said, "The CRPF and the local police have reached the spot. The operation is going on."

Condemning the attack, the minister of state for home RPN Singh said that sources of arms and ammunition have dried up for Naxalites and they have resorted to such measures. "These attacks on people and political leaders are a sign that the naxals are on the back foot," he said.

Politicians are really scared of visiting Red Zone post-May 25 Bastar carnage

http://t.co/wMZBsnsz5k

Scared netas from Maoist-hit states plead for security cover

Vishwa Mohan,TNN | Jun 15, 2013, 06.45AM IST 

NEW DELHI: Requests have been pouring in from politicians of Maoist-hit states for upgrading their security cover in the wake of the May 25 Chhattisgarh incident that left 29 people, including Congress leaders, dead in the daring Naxal attack.

So far, the Centre has received such requests from over a dozen politicians, including the new Congress chief of Chhattisgarh Charan Das Mahant, and family members of the slain party leader Mahendra Karma. Karma's wife and four sons made their requests on Friday, when they met Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde here.

Das, MP from Korba and Union minister of state for food processing and agriculture, may be considered for 'Z+' category of security, which is the highest category having 32 security personnel including house guards. Similarly, security of former Jharkhand chief ministers Babulal Marandi and Arjun Munda may also be upgraded to 'Z+'.

MLAs and local leaders of Congress, BJP and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) are also among those who have formally requested Shinde for upgrading their security. All the requests had come in from Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha in the past fortnight.

"Most of those who requested for security citing threats from Maoists have already in the list of respective state protectee, but their requests are being processed whether they actually need 'upgraded' security cover keeping in mind threat perception," said a senior home ministry official.

He said the respective state governments had already taken decisions and upgraded security of local politicians. The home ministry is processing their requests and will extend such leaders the adequate cover when they visit the national Capital as well, he added.

The West Bengal government has taken the lead in upgrading security cover of as many as six district-level leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress. All of them are now getting 'Z' category (having 22 security personnel, including house guards) as against the 'X' and 'Y' categories security that were given to them before the May 25 incident.

"The ongoing panchayat polls appears to have prompted the state government to quickly acted on such requests," said an official here, adding other states too have paid heed to similar demands.

Jharkhand, which is currently under the President's rule, has moved a step forward by activating a special monitoring cell within the state police Special Branch to monitor the movement of leaders — irrespective of their political affiliations — in the Maoist-dominated areas.

After meeting Shinde, Karma's kin said they continued to receive threats from the Red ultras who asked them to leave their ancestral place and demanded security.

Accompanied by Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh, Karma's son Deepak said, "We want security. The Naxals asked us to leave our ancestral place in Bastar and warned of dire consequences if we do not follow their diktat....The home minister assured us that he would examine their demands sympathetically and do the needful as early as possible".

Union home secretary R K Singh and director of Intelligence Bureau (IB) Asif Ibrahim were also present during the meeting where Karma's sons are learnt to have expressed their views on how to handle the Maoist menace in Chhattisgarh...........................http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTMvMDYvMTUjQXIwMjMwMg==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom