The Hindu : National : Burning midnight oil for relief work

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Tuesday, Jan 04, 2005

National

National

Burning midnight oil for relief work

By Vinay Kumar

NEW DELHI, JAN. 3. Every morning at 10, a young officer of the Home Ministry crosses the road to go over to the Defence Ministry. His name is Saroj Jha, a director in the Disaster Management Division.

At the Defence Ministry, Mr. Jha sits down with colleagues from the Interim National Command Post (INCP) to strategise the nitty-gritty of the relief distribution in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He repeats the exercise at 5 in the evening.

"We plan out everything, ranging from points in the country from where to lift relief material, drinking water pouches, generator sets and food packets. These points are located in Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Vizag, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh and Kolkata. Our central forces are involved in preparing relief packets and taking them to these air bases,'' Mr. Jha told The Hindu . In the past week, Mr. Jha, a middle-level IAS officer, stayed put in the North Block round-the-clock, barely snatching an hour's sleep in the day and pouring over minute details that have gone into planning the massive relief operations.

Planning logistics

The day's plan includes logistical questions such as from where to pick up food packets and relief material and where to airdrop, how many sorties to undertake and which areas to target in the worst-hit region of the archipelago. Coordination between the Home and Defence Ministries has so far been exacting. Much of the credit for it goes to the Interim National Command Post (INCP), headquartered in the South Block wing housing the Defence Ministry. But relief stocks piling up at different places in the country is the crucial input that is provided by the Home Ministry.

Apart from planning pickups and sorties by Air Force planes and the loading of relief material to Navy ships, there is also a review of the daily situation and, depending upon the need the relief distribution is decided. "If drinking water is needed more in one pocket, we divert supplies there. Similarly, if fuel and tents are needed in one island, we concentrate our efforts there. Requirements keep on changing. For example, in the initial phase, we despatched 7,000 family tents to the Car Nicobar, enough to house the entire population there,'' he said.

The first IAF direct flight, loaded with relief supplies to the Car Nicobar, the Campbell Bay or Great Nicobar, takes off at 3 a.m. so as to land at the air field there by 7 a.m. "It takes nearly three hours to load a large transport aircraft and much more to load a ship. The Home Ministry knows exactly which material is going in which aircraft or ship and its destination,'' says Admiral R. Puri, who heads the Integrated Defence Staff of the three services and has played a key role in coordinating defence efforts.

He said relief efforts were "precisely coordinated but highly complex'' with a number of ministries chipping in. The Navy is also continuing with its four relief operations — "Operation Sea Waves" for the Andaman and Nicobar, "Operation Rainbow" to Sri Lanka, `Operation Castor" to the Maldives and "Operation Gambhir" to Indonesia.

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