NDRF carries out nationwide security audit of cable cars

New Delhi: The NDRF has begun a nationwide survey of passenger cable cars and ropeway systems to find out possible security flaws in them and to prepare a structural blueprint that will help it launch effective rescue operations in case of an emergency or accident. The federal contingency force has also decided to train its rescuers in specific ropeway rescue skills apart from purchasing an assortment of tools like pulleys and carabiners to be used for transporting the salvager and evacuating stranded people from the car hanging in the air.

The move comes in the backdrop of at least three reported ropeway accidents that took place in Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh this year.

Three people were killed while 12 were rescued after a 40-hour-long operation conducted by the Indian Air Force, National Disaster Response Force, Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and local administration after cable cars got trapped mid-air on a ropeway at Trikut hills in Jharkhand's Deoghar district in April.

Eleven people were stranded for hours after a cable car was stuck mid-air at Parwanoo Timber Trail in Himachal Pradesh's Solan district and they were rescued after a six-hour-long operation undertaken by the NDRF and other agencies in June. In an incident in May, pilgrims visiting the hilltop goddess 'Sharda' shrine in Maihar town of Satna district in Madhya Pradesh were rescued about an hour after they got stuck in the cable cars.

"We have begun a survey of all the passenger ropeway and cable car systems in the country to understand their operations and suggest remedial action. There are more than 50 such systems in India which are used for transport of pilgrims, tourists and passengers. "The aim of the exercise is to not only sensitise the operators of this mode of transport about the precautions they should practise and preparations they should have, it will also give us an action plan which can be used during emergencies and disasters that hit the ropeway system," NDRF Director General Atul Karwal said.

He said a special team of officers culled out from all the 16 NDRF battalions, based across the country with a jurisdiction of operation in various states, have been asked to visit these ropeway systems, carry out a security and operations analysis and submit a report.