'District administration was unaware of the rule'

Police Commissioner asks to improve efficiency in disaster management

In his address, City Police Commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh said, “we have all type of technology, infrastructure and sufficient number of hospitals in Mangalore to face any type of disaster situation. Still we need to improve the efficiency so that the City should be ready to manage disaster at any time.”

Lauding the efforts of police personnel, fire and emergency services and local people, Singh said that the all bodies were retrieved before evening due to the co-ordinated efforts. However, those who were engaged in retrieving bodies from the ill-fated plane faced difficulties as there was shortage of gloves, water and clothes, he said.

“It is praiseworthy that even laymen, who did not have experience in disaster management, helped police and fire brigades to retrieve bodies from the wreckage,” he added.

Rules not followed

Assistant Commissioner Prabhulinga Kavalikatti said that as per the Disaster Management Rules, bodies can not be handed over to relatives,  until all victims in a disaster were identified.

However, he said, that nearly 50 per cent of the bodies were already handed over to claimants by the time the district administration got to know about the existence of such a rules.

The district has a detailed disaster management plan. However, there is no specific plan to deal with certain situations including aircrash, he said.

“The district administration is doing its best to distribute compensation to the kin of all victims,” he added.

Team of forensic experts and assistants of KMC Mangalore, KMC Manipal, AJ Hospital, K S Hegde Hospital, Yenepoya Hospital and Fr Muller Hospital were felicitated on the occasion.

Manipal University Pro-Chancellor Dr H S Ballal, KMC Mangalore Dean Dr G Rajgopal, Associate Dean Dr M V Prabhu and District Surgeon Dr Saroja P among others  were present.