Mangalore, April 2: Nearly two years after the Mangalore air crash and months after the fire mishap at Carlton Towers in Bangalore, the Department of Karnataka State Fire and Emergency Services does not have separate standard operating procedures (SOPs) to deal with different emergencies, a CAG report has revealed.
Except for Bangalore and Hubli, other cities in the state did not have special equipment to manage fire-accidents in high-rise buildings, according to the report for the year ending March 31, 2011, tabled in the just-concluded legislature session.
An Air India Express carrier from Dubai crashed at Mangalore on May 22, 2010 killing 158 people, including the crew members. In one of the major fire accidents in high-rise buildings, nine people lost their lives and 57 others were injured at Carlton Towers here on February 23, 2010.
"Even one year after the crash, the Department had neither finalised a standing operating procedure for air crash accidents nor conceived specialised training for search and rescue operations in such situations", it said.
As the Department was identified during 2004 as the 'first responder' for all emergencies, it needed to function as a multi-hazard response unit, but it was seen that it had been following only a common SOP for all kinds of emergencies.
"As the nature of response required was different for different emergencies, like fires in high-rise buildings, floods, earthquakes, landslides, aircrash, etc, separate SOPs were to be designed to ensure a quick and appropriate response to the type of emergency", CAG said.
"This was, however, not done, handicapping the Department in providing the appropriate response during emergencies".
Addressing Kannadiga delegates from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and other countries through a video conference, Dr Narayan also assured that necessary steps will be taken by the Karnataka government to provide free quarantine facility for those who cannot afford private quarantine in hotels or guest houses. The video conference was organised by coastaldigest.com.
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