MUMBAI, JULY 13: Had the Congress-led Democratic Front government adhered to the guidelines prescribed under the Disaster Management Plan, then probably the agony of an estimated 10 lakh passengers stranded either on the suburban stations or bus stands could have been reduced to a great extent. The main emphasis of the World Bank financed disaster management plan is on risk analysis and vulnerability assessment, response plan and mitigation strategy. The risk analysis and vulnerability assessment depicts the present picture for the incident, loss of life, property damage and it also shows geographic distribution of each hazard, while the response plan present an organisational structure of all the state, central and non-governmental agencies to effectively deal with the disaster in a coordinated and quickest possible manner to mitigate the impact of disaster during and after its onset. The mitigation strategy and plan focus on the long-term planning for disaster reduction and deals with issues of continued commitment to hazard identification and risk assessment. While dealing with the torrential rains on Tuesday and Wednesday, which completely paralysed life in the metropolis, the highlevel core group set up for the purpose, did not adhere to the disaster management plan and the guidelines prescribed thereunder. As a first step, as a head of the core group either the Chief Secretary or the Additional Chief Secretary should have convened an emergency meeting with the Municipal Commissioner as well as the Commissioner of Police following by another meeting with the officials of the Central as well as Western Railway and transport operators. Secondly, absolutely no efforts were made to reach the lakhs of commuters stranded on the suburban stations. Either specific instructions should have been given to all the station masters or special bulletins should have been telecast on the Doordarshan to inform the commuters on status of trains. Additional Chief Secretary (Home) M R Patil said it will be wrong to blame the administration, since all possible efforts were made to tackle the crisis. ``As we came to know that owing to torrential rains, the rail as well as road traffic is likely to be affected, I personally spoke to Municipal Commissioner V Rangnathan, BEST general manager Rahul Asthana and Commissioner of Police M N Singh on measures to be taken to tackle the situation,'' Patil said. Patil said specific instructions were given for deployment additional buses as well as police officials on suburban as well as mainline stations to ensure smooth transportation of commuters to the desire destination. ``I feel that our plan did not work effectively, owing to heavy rains. My information is that Mumbai can sustain three to four inches of rain. But on Wednesday, since it was an all time high of 10 to 12 inches, our plan went heywire. The water logging was so much that despite deployment of buses, the vehicles could not move,'' Patil said. Patil admitted that had his department or the information and public relations department telecast an hourly bulletin on the Doordarshan on the status of trains as well as buses, then it would have given some relief to the stranded passengers. ``We were unable to provide information to commuters, as a result, there was more panic reaction,'' Patil said. According to a senior official, along with the BEST buses, the government should have pressed into service private trucks for the transportation of commuters. ``In view of the special design of the trucks, they can pass through a water level of three to four feet,'' the official. Significantly, Central Railway Chief Public Relations Officer Mukul Marwah took initiative in releasing special bulletin to the Doordarshan as well as All India Radio on the status of trains. Former Chief Minister Narayan Rane today blasted the government for inept handling of the situation. ``The entire administration collapsed. It failed to tackle the situation owing to heavy rains,'' Rane said.
