The Disaster Management team of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) works hard to ensure that the city is accident-free during monsoons. DNA speaks with BMC's Chief Officer (Disaster Management) Mahesh Narvekar to understand what precautionary measures have been taken by the department. Excerpts from the interview:
What steps has the department taken to ensure the safety of Mumbaikars for monsoon?
We start the preparations two months in advance. There are various agencies we have to co-ordinate with and prepare plan accordingly. We conduct meetings with various stakeholders like Army, Navy MMRDA, MHADA, Railways, BEST and others to appraise them about our problems and seek suggestion to be rain-ready. We also share updates on the standard operation procedures about the on the role a particular agency will play if any disaster.
How can citizens reach to your department?
We have 60 automatic weather stations across the city, which give weather information on different parameters every 15 minutes. From June 1, we are launching an updated mobile application— 'Disaster Management MCGM'— and a website www.dm.mcgm.gov.in where the citizens can get latest updates on the rainfall, high tide, rail disruptions, traffic diversions, dos and donts and other information. The mobile application also has an SOS feature, which, during any distress will connect users to your family members at the click of a button. It also has emergency tab for fire stations, nearby hospitals, ward offices with an auto dialer facility. The disaster management helpline '1916' is active 24/7.
If city faces severe water logging, what steps are taken?
The civic body has already set up 313 de-watering pumps. There is an operator at these spots 24/7. We are in constant touch with the operators and take live update from them. We have total 51 hot lines including those for 24 civic wards, plus wireless and radio connections for emergencies. We have 13 officers working at a time in disaster management office at the BMC headquarters, which is active 24/7. Every civic ward office also has a disaster management section. We co-ordinate with the wards and stakeholders during any disaster, and accordingly action is taken. During emergency situation, for instance during water logging, traffic diversions or power failures, a representative from the agency is present in our office at the headquarter for better co-ordination. In case of any major disaster, we have three National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams in position.
Till last year, we had only 250 to 300 CCTVs to monitor the city. But this year, we have a total of 5,038 CCTVs across the city under the Mumbai City Surveillance project, through which we get real-time updates. Although the main control is with the Mumbai Police, our officers monitor the screens 24/7. This will help in quick response to incidents like tree falls, landslides, building collapses, traffic congestion, etc.
How many calls do you get on an average on the helpline?
We get around 300 calls in a day on our helpline number. However, during monsoon, we get more than 1,000 calls every day. Maximum calls we get are for tree or branch falling, and then water logging. We also get calls for fires, drowning incidents on beaches, and other civic complaints. In fact, we train our officers who attend calls to keep calm and answer calls patiently. The people calling on the disaster helpline are quite irate and want immediate action. However, we have to explain that the action will be taken by the concerned department.
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 "Mahesh Narvekar")
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