Several districts of Assam are already facing the wrath of floods. Lakhs of people have been affected. Mr Y K Gautam, ADGP, Assam Police and Director, Assam State Disaster Management Authority, spoke exclusively to the sentinelassam.com on how SDRF personnel are busy not just in flood rescue and relief operations but also in the fight against Corona. Here are the excerpts from the interview.
Sentinel Assam: Several districts of Assam are already reeling under flood. What has been the role of SDRF teams so far?
YK Gautam: The rains have started and water levels of rivers are rising, some of the districts are already experiencing floods. As of now 12 districts have been affected and lakhs of people affected. On May 24th we got calls from Goalpara district about the district being hit by flood and embankments breached. We sent our boats and rescue teams. Our teams have rescued over 430 people already. Again, on the May 27th we got calls from Hojai, Lanka. Three posts were dispatched. Over 300 people were evacuated along with cattle and animals.
Sentinel Assam: Water level of rivers are rising at several other locations like Neematighat in Jorhat, Kopili river is rising, Brahmaputra is in spate. What are the plans of SDRF?
YK Gautam: Our SDRF personnel are deployed in 40 locations with boats. We have 104 deep divers. The deep divers are located at 22 locations. We have about 133 boats deployed at 52 locations. We despatch our teams without any loss of time because we get called only when there is an emergency and we respond without any delay. Our people are on duty 24x7.
For Assam floods are an annual phenomenon. Its just that the degree varies, sometimes it is less, sometimes it is more. And every year we have to be on the rescue job.
Sentinel Assam: What about your workforce? How stressed are they because this year we have the Corona as well as floods to handle.
YK Gautam: We are a total strength of 430. There are a few vacancies now and we are in the process of filing those up. We have a strength of 343 personnel deployed in 40 locations across Assam.
Fire services, the sanctioned strength is 2970 of which 2325 is our available force. The total number of available force is 2668.
Sentinel Assam: We are seeing a lot of job losses and in case anyone is interested in the joining the SDRF or the Fire Services, what do they need to do?
Y K Gautam: It's pretty simple. The person has to be 12th pass from the Science stream and physically fit. We do not do the recruitments directly. The State Level Police Recruitment Board does the advertising as well as the recruitment not just for SDRF and Fire Services but for all other police agencies. The hiring would be for 470 posts.
Sentinel Assam: You have been having frequent review meetings with Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal about the flood situation. Are we expecting tough times ahead?
YK Gautam: Forec-asting about rains and floods is the met department's job and even they can forecast just some hours in advance. At this stage it will be difficult to say anything.
Sentinel Assam: Do we need better technologies for weather forecasts?
Y K Gautam: We have a system called the flood early warning system (FEWS). This has been developed by the Northeast Space Application Centre, we can get advanced warning of 7-18 hours about floods or heavy rain so accordingly people can be warned or evacuated. SADMA is in
Automated weather system is another system but it is restricted to Guwahati city only. It has been installed in 18 locations and gives update on rain and possible flooding so that we or the authorities can respond accordingly.
Sentinel Assam: What has been the role of SDRF in the fight against Corona?
YK Gautam: Our teams have been busy. They have been carrying out the sanitisation and disinfection work across the state. They have started sanitising since the day the problem started and they continue to do so.
Sentinel Assam: There has been fire accidents in the city. The recent one where two kids, both brothers lost their lives was a tragic one. What steps has your department taken to avoid such accidents?
YK Gautam: As far as houses are concerned, we create general public awareness about how they can stay safe, like using standard electrical appliances so that there are no short circuit, in case there is a gas leak then what are the do's and don'ts, not to keep inflammable and combustible items inside the house. We keep doing this exercise and we also have the Fire Safety Week in the April from April 14- 20, but this time it was low key because of Corona. We do a lot of mock drills, awareness campaigns, conduct lectures, painting competitions.
In terms of building – residential and commercial, we carry out inspections. They are given a list of fire safety equipment which are to be fitted in the buildings and sufficient water availability has to be ensured.
Sentinel Assam: You are aware that many areas of Guwahati, houses are built in very narrow lanes where forget about fire tenders, even small cars can barely manoeuvre.
YK Gautam: Yes, but most of these constructions are very old constructions. Nothing much can be done. We have to manage and our personnel are very well trained to operate in any situation under any circumstances. They are not just trained with the initial training but they constantly undergo refreshed training as well.
Sentinel Assam: What about penalties in case of violating fire safety norms?
YK Gautam: As far as commercial buildings are concerned, their licence maybe cancelled by the district administration or local authorities. We do not have penal powers but we can definitely recommend in case someone is found in violation of fire safety norms.