New Delhi, Mar 6: NDRF personnel are undertaking long-range patrols with ITBP troops along the India-China Line of Actual Control (LAC) to prepare themselves before getting stationed at high-altitude locations in the Himalayas for undertaking rescue operations during disasters like avalanches, landslides and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs).
NDRF Director General (DG) Atul Karwal told during an interaction that the federal contingency force is in discussion with border-guarding forces that have a presence in these forward areas. The aim is to have a small team of rescuers that can be co-located at the outposts of forces, such as the BSF and SSB, in the four states of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim.
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) prepared an action plan last year to train its saviours in tackling natural and man-made catastrophes in these fragile mountain ranges on India’s north and northeast which, according to experts, may see a rise in disasters leading to loss of lives due to a variety of reasons, including climate change and increased human activity.
“We want to keep some of our small teams functional at higher altitudes at all times. Four areas have been chosen for permanently stationing these teams and they are in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim. Once these teams are available at high altitudes, they can be rushed immediately,” Karwal said.
Raised in 2006 as the national rescue-and-response force during calamities, the NDRF has felt over the last few years that if its personnel are not acclimatised to the mountain terrain, they cannot respond to a man-made or natural accident taking place there effectively. In fact, it feels they may suffer losses.
Mountaineering experts underline the principle of getting physically accustomed to the environment in the mountains before undertaking any task, as high altitude leads to difficult climatic conditions like thin oxygen levels and sub-zero temperatures.
“Even if my rescuers are based in a place like Srinagar (in Jammu and Kashmir), they cannot be airlifted immediately in case of a disaster that strikes in the higher reaches as they are not acclimatised. They need to be pre-acclimatised throughout the year…,” Karwal said.
“We are coordinating with border forces like the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) with a request to accommodate a team of five-six NDRF rescuers at their high-altitude border posts ranging between a height of about 9,000 and 10,000 feet. It will be difficult for us to deploy independent teams as logistics will be an issue,” he added.
