Team Herald
PANJIM: The helplessness of local authorities in retrieving the ill-fated car that hurtled into River Zuari with four occupants has exposed the State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMA) acute lack of expertise and equipment in conducting rescue operations.
While the State government brags about upgrading machinery for emergency purposes, the struggle of the SDMA team, until the Indian Navy and Coast Guard experts pitched in, was evident. The bodies stuck in the locked car were fished out of the river after a nearly 12-hour operation.
“Divers and experts from the Defence agencies made use of some powerful magnetic machinery to pull out the car. The tyre marks on the bridge and the crash site indicated the vehicle could have fallen at a certain spot, but our local divers were unable to locate the car. The Indian Navy and Coast Guard divers were requisitioned, and they brought boats and other equipment required for the rescue mission,” an officer from the Goa Police’s rescue team told Herald.
Sources said that the State Police Control Room was intimated about the accident at around 1.10am, soon after which the Coast Guard and Fire Department were informed. The rescue operation however only started after sunrise with local authorities justifying the waiting period. “It was not possible to trace the victims and the car in the night. Even the expert divers would not have attempted it,” the officer said.
The government’s apathy to upgrade the sidelined Coastal Police has also come to the fore as sources claim that not a single marine boat across seven coastal police stations is currently in functional condition. The lack of maintenance of seven 12-tonner boats built by Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) under the Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) programme has resulted in the coastal police stations functioning in a pitiable state.
Director General of Police Jaspal Singh has denied that coastal police should be involved in the rescue, stating that it is not the mandate of the unit.“Our domain is coastal surveillance, from the point of anti-terrorism,” he said. With the Indian Navy and Coast Guard’s trained divers retrieving the submerged car, the officer said that these agencies have specialised equipment for complicated operations dealing with water bodies.
Sources said that neither Goa Police nor the fire department has trained scuba divers.
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Coastal Police boats languish sans repair
In what could expose a scam, the Goa-based Repair & Maintenance Company, which was offered the annual maintenance contract, failed in its duty. The contract has been terminated and no new agency has been hired. This has led to the force abandoning the boats, each of which cost Rs 4-5 crore, with annual maintenance costs of around Rs 1 crore. Sources said that the lifespan of some of the boats has also expired. “A proposal to the government to procure new equipment and maintain existing craft is now caught in red tape,” said the source.
