Green corridor helped NDRF reach Bhendi Bazaar collapse site sooner

For the first time, the state government deployed a green corridor for the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to reach the building collapse site at Bhendi Bazaar, which helped the team skip peak-hour traffic.

Normally, green corridors, which refer to traffic-free lanes for a faster commute, are used for medical emergencies and transportation of organs for transplant.

The state government will now incorporate it as a standard operating procedure for emergency vehicles responding to a disaster call to improve response time.

Medha Gadgil, Additional Chief Secretary (Relief and Rehabilitation), said the state disaster control room was intimated about the building collapse at 8.55 am, after which the NDRF unit was activated. The NDRF personnel started for the site at 9.05 am from Andheri Sports Complex, where they are based.

"When chief secretary Sumit Mullick and I reached the Mantralaya control room at 9.30 am, we realised that the NDRF team was stuck in peak-hour traffic. We spoke to Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Amitesh Kumar to activate the green corridor to reduce the response time and save lives," Gadgil said. "We will document and instruct all departments to create a green corridor for emergencies," he said.

Sachindananda Gawade, Deputy Commandant, NDRF, said they had taken almost 35 minutes to reach Vakola from Andheri due to heavy traffic. "But, the green corridor was activated after Vakola. The traffic police deployed a two-wheeler rider to pilot our vehicles, clear traffic jams and keep signals open to create a dedicated lane," he said. The NDRF reached the accident site in around an hour. "Since this was peak hour, we could have otherwise taken more time to reach the spot," Gawade said.The NDRF eventually deployed three teams, each consisting of 45 officers and two sniffer dogs to the site.