Chidambaram suggests use of aircraft to reach accident sites

PTI Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram at a convention in New Delhi.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday regretted the enormous delay in rescue and relief teams reaching the train accident site at Sainthia in West Bengal and said use of helicopters or small planes on such occasions should be looked into.

He said the capacity of disaster management capacity is tested only when a disasters strikes and one has to increase their capacity.

“I was informed that the first relief team could leave only about 2 hours and 30 minutes after the accident happened.

The second team could only leave seven hours after the accident and they had to drive for about 220 kms which means there is a clear gap in the mobility of the disaster team.

“So we need to increase our capacity to be able to move disaster relief teams quickly which means perhaps helicopters, small planes. All this would cost money but I think capacity has to be built,” he said.

Speaking at a function organised by the National Disaster Management Authority, Mr. Chidambaram said, “I compliment the NDMA and NDRF for vastly improving our capacity in case of natural disasters like flood or cycle or fire. But there are some other cases I think in which our response should be better, for example if there is a train disaster.”

He said in the last one-and-a-half years, the response to disaster has been better especially to natural ones.

“More lives are being saved, more relief and aid is being rushed to affected people, more quickly and the situation brought to control within a few days,” he said.

Source http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article526577.ece