BHUBANESWAR: The ghastly train mishap at Bahanaga on Friday brought out the best in the Odisha government yet again, which ably displayed its speed and scale of disaster-response and effective management of the challenges.
With Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik leading from the front, the state administration swung into action immediately after the news of the derailment came in and rushed with manpower, equipment and machinery to start rescue operations and shifting of the injured passengers to the hospitals in a very difficult situation. By the time, the Railways machinery was deployed, the state apparatus was well in the midst of the operations.
Within an hour of the mishap, Naveen deputed his ministers and top officials to take charge of the rescue and relief operations. Revenue and Disaster Management minister Pramila Mallick and special relief commissioner Satyabrata Sahu rushed to the site to coordinate the operations. Director general of fire services Sudhansu Sarangi was specifically entrusted to oversee rescue operation while four other senior IAS officers were asked to the proceed to the spot to look after various aspects of the exercise.
While several senior officials were at the spot, chief secretary PK Jena took charge from the control room in the office of the SRC here, arranging logistics including ambulances, buses to shift the injured passengers, overseeing the deployment of medical teams and reviewing the situation at regular intervals.
Having wide experience in disaster management from the days of Cuttack collector during super cyclone of 1999 and subsequently as the SRC during the Covid pandemic, the team of senior officials led by him kept a constant watch on the situation throughout Friday night. Around 200 officials were mobilised from the 12 blocks of nearby districts including Jajpur, Bhadrak, Kendrapara and Mayurbhanj.
Sources in the SRC office here said that within one hour, the rescue operation had started with NDRF, ODRAF and fire services personnel reaching the spot with their equipment. Tower light arrangements were made for the night-time operation while gas cutters were used to cut the train bogies to rescue the trapped passengers.The chief secretary said 200 ambulances were pressed into service and buses were mobilised to shift the injured to the hospital. Seven NDRF, 5 ODRAF and 24 fire services units, local police and volunteers worked tirelessly in search and rescue operations.
While Balasore collector Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde acted as the points man, industries secretary Hemant Shama along with OMC MD Balwant Singh were in charge of hospitals. State Transport commissioner Amitabh Thakur was in charge of facilitating communication for the injured persons.
The critical monitoring of the situation was being done at Bahanaga by SRC Sahu who swiftly deployed all resources while minister Mallick was in overall charge. “The entire relief administration responded in unison to the tragic incident and worked relentlessly till rescue work was completed,” Sahu said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also lauded all those working round the clock on the ground for relief work.
Arrangements Made
Tower light arrangements were made for the night-time operation while gas cutters were used to cut the train bogies to rescue the trapped passengers. Two hundred ambulances along with buses were mobilised to shift the injured to hospitals