By Sunil Sonker
Mussoorie, 30 Apr: ‘Five tourists were stranded in the air after the wire of the Mussoorie JhulaGhar Ropeway broke. They were rescued safely after an hour-long operation.’
The mock drill was organised to assess the safety of the ropeway in Mussoorie and to test the mutual coordination of the departments.
In this exercise, the rescue of five tourists trapped on the ropeway was practiced, in which teams of NDRF, SDRF, Police and Health Department participated. The mock drill demonstrated the situation of ropeway wire breakage, due to which some tourists were stranded. Officials said that all necessary preparations are complete for the rescue operation.
This exercise was done as per the guidelines issued by the National Disaster Management Authority, in which semi-annual mock drills are to be organised for all ropeway projects. During the mock drill, the local administration along with the teams of NDRF, SDRF, Fire Service, local police and health department practiced rescuing the stranded tourists. On Wednesday, on the instructions of the government, a trial of the rescue operation was conducted at Jhulaghar. The trial, which started at around 10 a.m., lasted for an hour. During this, the people trapped in the ropeway were brought down the hill with the help of a rope. The mock drill of Bhatta village ropeway created panic among the people as if it was a real incident. But after some time, people heaved a sigh of relief after getting information about the mock drill.
NDRF Deputy Commandant Rohitash Sharma said that a mock drill of the trolley getting stuck on the ropeway was conducted in Mussoorie. Last year, the Trikuta Pahad ropeway accident in Deoghar of Jharkhand state was tragic. After the said accident, mock drills have been organised from time to time to reduce such incidents in the state, in which the force participates and continuously increases its efficiency and skill. In this mock drill, SDRF coordinated with other rescue units NDRF, Civil Police, Fire Service, Municipal Corporation, Health Department, etc., and practiced relief and rescue work.
He reported that the jawans of NDRF and SDRF teams, using various techniques of rope rescue, reached the trolley stuck in the middle of the ropeway and took the four people riding in the trolley one by one to a safe place from. The objective of the mock drill was to respond and prepare in advance, so that in such incidents, the loss of life and property can be minimised by responding quickly in the shortest possible time. The local administration has clarified that there is no technical fault in the ropeway and the rescue team is fully prepared.
