Pune's disaster management cells are a disaster

Almost two years after the German Bakery blast, the disaster management cells of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the district collectorate are still not prepared to deal with a calamity.

This came to light when DNA called the helplines of the two disaster management cells in the city.

When this reporter called PMC’s disaster management helpline on 25501130, the call was answered by a security guard, who claimed that the call had reached the civic body’s security office.

When asked whether it was the number of the disaster management helpline, he replied in negative.

Then he provided the cell number of PMC’s disaster management officer (DMO), Ganesh Sonune. Two more calls to the helpline resulted in the same experience.

When the reporter called for a third time, the man finally conceded that the number belonged to the disaster management cell. But that happened only after he was informed that it was a reporter calling.

When contacted, DMO Sonune admitted that an untrained person might have attended the call, as the trained officers were busy with election duties.

“Infrastructure for dedicated disaster management cell is in place and this is merely a temporary arrangement,” he said.

When contacted, the municipal commissioner, Mahesh Pathak, provided the reporter with the same landline number.

“It will shortly be changed to a three digit number. The control room infrastructure for the cell has been installed on the fifth floor and it will soon be operational. For the time being, the fire brigade is also providing emergency services,” Pathak said.

Calls to the district collectorate’s helpline number, 1077, also proved to be futile. Though the woman answering the calls admitted that the number belonged to the disaster management cell, she failed to provide ambulance service to a particular area saying that she did not have the number of any ambulance service provider.

“We only take calls for help and direct those to senior officers. I don’t have a list of ambulances or numbers of hospitals. If you want any more details, please speak to the officer concerned,” she said before giving the cell number of Vitthal Banhote, deputy collector in-charge of the disaster management cell.

Banhote said that plans for a more comprehensive disaster management cell were in the pipeline, while existing facilities tackled disaster situations.

Skirting a question on the woman’s response to the call, he said, “We have a network with important departments, including police, traffic, hospitals and ambulances and a person can call us in emergency situations. The cell is fully functional. We even received a lot of calls during the recent incident of an MSRTC driver mowing down people in the city.”