Cyclone Hudhud tested the determination, spirit and ability, to work as a team , of the personnel under the Police Commissionerate and the district police. And the men in khaki not only responded to the crisis in time, but performed their duty beyond expectation.
According to Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime), S. Varada Raju, Herculean efforts went into planning and coordination both pre- and
post-cyclone. “Every single man on duty was utilised and everybody responded to the call,” he said.
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The police played a stellar role in evacuating over 26,000 people from low-lying areas a day before Hudhud made its landfall.
In the aftermath, it was teamwork that saw the department do some good job. “The primary function was coordination and preparing for the relief work. Every police station was given the required basic manpower, generator sets and VHF communication sets. In total over 6,000 policemen were engaged in the relief work,” he said.
Apart from the forces stationed in the city and district, 34 platoons of AP Special Police and 20 teams of NDRF were requisitioned and positioned strategically. This apart, after the hit, about 400 men from Odisha Fire and Disaster Services who had come with 170 electric saws, one unit of Octopus, a couple of platoons from Greyhounds, four teams from Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force, men from AP Fire and Disaster Service, a few teams from State Disaster Response Force and additional men from Armed Reserve from East Godavari and Vizianagaram, were on the job.
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In addition about 400 home guards and 270 trainee sub-inspectors from the Academy were put into duty.
According to Mr. Varada Raju, to monitor the relief work, teams were segregated at the police station level, and zones were created to monitor the stations and wards. About 15 additional DSP rank officers and 14 inspectors were called in from the CID wing to monitor the relief operation. “Four ADG rank officers Surendra Babu, Gowtam Sawang, N. Sambasiva Rao and A.R Anuradha were present to monitor the relief and VVIP movement in the city,” said the ADCP.
The police took up the road opening work from October 12, night itself. While the city police cleared the NH from the city to Anakapalle, the District Police took it up till Payakaraopeta. “Even during landfall six teams were patrolling the Beach Road and it took us four days from October 15 to 19 to clear most of the carriageway,” he said.
Banks need to be more cautiousThere is a lesson for the bankers to learn from the recent ATM robbery. They need to be more cautious and just cannot depend on outsourced contractors to replenish cash in the ATM counters, said Mr. Varada Raju.
Recently, two employees of an outsourced company, withdrew cash to the tune of Rs. 9.37 lakh, without the knowledge of a bank.
According to the ADCP, even the outsourced companies should check the background of the persons they recruit. Sources say that there was a case where the contract employees made good with the cash after stuffing the ATM with fake notes.
(Reporting by Sumit Bhattacharjee)