Rescue-operation fight between the fire brigade and National Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF) at the collapse site aside, all hasn't been well between the BMC and the central force for almost a month now
Seemingly oblivious to the magnitude of work being done around him, a local youth takes a selfie at Siddhi Sai Apartment crash site. Pic/Shadab Khan
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Rescue-operation fight between the fire brigade and National Disaster Rescue Force (NDRF) at the collapse site aside, all hasn't been well between the BMC and the central force for almost a month now. The BMC has written to the DG of NDRF, detailing instances of "no coordination" and "no quick response" from teams posted with the disaster control of the civic body two weeks ago.
Mid-day had reported yesterday about the lack of coordination and heated arguments taking place between NDRF and Mumbai Fire Brigade officers.
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BMC rains allegations
There are three teams of NDRF with 45-odd members each, stationed in Andheri. The civic body spends R1 crore on them every year. The teams were requisitioned after a series of building collapses in 2013, to help the disaster control unit of the BMCâu00c2u0080u00c2u0088to enable relief work at accident spots. While earlier the teams used to make rounds of beaches during public holidays, officials have alleged they haven't gone on a single round since monsoon began.
"In the past one month, there were two drowning calls made by locals to the disaster control unit, for which divers were needed, which the fire brigade didn't have then. Yet, the NDRF didn't respond to our call. We had to write to the higher-ups. To add insult to injury, we weren't even informed about the teams leaving for Gujarat to attend to the flood situation there," said a senior civic official.
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Where are the men?
In a warning signal to the BMC, the disaster unit received an emergency call on Tuesday, about a building in Malad, caving in from all sides. The seven families and occupants of seven shops had to be moved out.
Another BMC official said, "Tuesday saw two back-to-back calls - one at Malad and the other in Ghatkopar. Even though the Malad building had been evacuated in time, unavailability of NDRF could have caused a major catastrophe."
Additional Municipal Commissioner Idzes Kundanâu00c2u0080u00c2u0088said, "BMC would prefer that these companies (teams) are stationed for emergency handling of disasters. I have expressed so in my letter to the DG. For the incident in Ghatkopar, just one company of NDRF was sent."
"I am not aware of any such issue, nor have I received any communication. There is sufficient NDRF manpower in Mumbai ," said Mahesh Nalawade, deputy commandant of NDRF.
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