Be it a tower inferno, a capsized boat or roads being blocked by uprooted trees, the disaster management group (DMG) of Kolkata Police is always there. June 17, was an acid test for the tree-cutting and removing squad of DMG which was set up after the cyclone Aila caught the city off guard. Majority of the roads were blocked by uprooted trees.

“Aila gave us an important lesson. We immediately built a team that can specialize in blockade- removal,” said Commissioner of Police R K Pachnanda. Almost the same situation occurred on June 17. But this time, our squad was ready. They swung into action. Out of 132 affected spots, DMG’s tree-removal squad cleared roads at102 spots, putting the city back into gear.

The city now has three distinct wings of DMG specializing in diving and rescuing drowning passengers of a capsized boat, secondly, rescuing people trapped in highrise-fires or evacuating hostages during terror attacks on buildings, thirdly, of course the road-clearing squad. Understanding its efficacy, the government has increased its strength from 85 to 120 personnel.

Not only within the city, DMG teams swung into action in major railway accidents like Gyaneswari and Sainthia. The DMG personnel were hand-picked from Armed Police, Rapid Action Force and Special Action Force of the Kolkata Police, along with a support staff of the green police and home guards, were trained in high rise climbing, rappelling, rescue, first aid, tree cutting etc to handle any exigencies.
According to Pachnanda, Stephen Court fire incident in which 43 persons were killed and during which, DMG personnel carried out rescue operations with great success despite all odds, the West Bengal government decided to augment DMG’s strength and add rescue from high rise buildings in case of fire or other incidents to its specialization. They already have training in diving and water rescue operations during boat capsize or drowning accidents and clearing fallen trees off roads in case of storms, squalls or cyclones to prevent traffic disruptions.

DMG personnel were trained at the National Industrial Security Academy (NISA), run by CISF in Hyderabad, in collapsible structure search and rescue and medical first responders. They were also trained in climbing by Himalayan Mountaineering Federation in Kolkata where they learnt climbing and rescue of victims up and down buildings up to 15 floors. The DMG is being kept in peak condition with several short term refresher courses on a regular basis with the BSF and the CISF as well as Mountaineering organizations.

So whether it is a fire-incident at Camac-Street Pantaloon building, or Central Avenue or at Cossipore Road, or in capsizing trawler at Kakdwip, or drowning in Murshidabad, DMG played a crucial life-saving role. Rojar Fippen, a DMG member, said the additional training in climbing and rescue had now given the personnel confidence to climb high rises, jump off from top floors and efficiently rescue trapped persons.

The hope is now high that major fires or terror strikes would be prevented through effective disaster risk reduction techniques or alert intelligence and action, however, in case of any untoward incident, the city police now has access to a highly trained and specialized force for Disaster Management and Crisis Control.