Around 3.05 pm, the control room of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), which is headquartered in Sudumbare, Mavel, received a call from the Pune district administration that a bridge had collapsed in a popular tourist destination of Kundamala village in Maval taluka and quite a few people were expected to have been swept away.

“In such an incident, where there is a requirement for an NDRF team, anyone from the district collector’s office to the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) to relief commissioners to the local police station, directly calls us either on our control room numbers or our headquarters in Delhi. So, news comes to us that an incident has happened and our teams are required because the severity or gravity of the incident is on the higher side,” says Deepak Tiwari, second-in-command of the 5th Battalion of the NDRF in Pune.

A 20-minute deadline

Disaster management protocol kicked in immediately. “As soon as the information comes to our control room or to some of our officers or personnel, our team responds. This response time is barely 20 minutes, within which the first team is mobilized with all the bags and equipment, and leaves for the incident site,” says Tiwari. In the case of the Kundamala incident, the first team left within 15 minutes and was followed four minutes later by a second one. The complete NDRF team numbered 60, including personnel for equipment.

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There are 18 teams in the headquarters, all of which are “fully capable of dealing with any type of scenario, be it flood-water rescue, landslides or any other disaster.” A full team comprises 47 members but, at any given time, the operational strength is 30. The time required for transit depends on multiple factors, including distance.

The Kundmala accident site was 17km from the NDRF headquarters. The rescue teams are armed with information, such as the place of disaster, total affected area, other rescue agencies operating, assistance required and resources already present.

How rescue operation was carried out

The NDRF team took stock of the situation on reaching the incident site. Local volunteers had started rescue operations and a few people had been taken out. The NDRF, accompanied by the Talegaon MIDC police, and personnel from the Maval Wildlife Rescue Organisation, began to pull people out of the swollen Indrayani river, and from under the debris of the collapsed bridge by cutting through the structure.

The collapsed bridge was 40-years-old, narrow and unsafe. “Though not meant for vehicles, people plied their two-wheelers over it. Five motorcycles and a number of pedestrians were on the bridge at the time it collapsed,” says Tiwari. The accident claimed four lives. The people who were injured were sent to nearby hospitals, such as MIMER Hospital and Atharva Hospital. More than 40 people needed treatment.

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After working through the night, the NDRF ended the operation on Monday. “This is done as per district authorities, after accounting for each and every missing person,” says Tiwari. Even as the monsoon rains wash down the city, Tiwari has an appeal: “Agencies cannot reach everywhere. People have to be wise. The state and district administrations issue warnings about places vulnerable to aquatic disasters and landslides, among others, during the monsoon. People should heed their advice.”