SHILLONG: After the NDRF, the Indian Navy is deploying a 15-member team of divers from its Visakhapatnam base to assist in rescue operations for the missing/trapped miners in an illegal rat hole coal mine in East Jaintia Hills
A tweet from Indian Navy Spokesperson said that the team was carrying special diving equipment including a re-compression chamber and remotely operated vehicles capable of searching underwater
The Tweet also said that the team was expected to arrive on site on Saturday .It also said that an initial assessment to determine an effective response was undertaken by the Navy on Friday.
On the other hand, 21 personnel of NDRF and 10 powerful pumps were also airlifted from Bhubaneswar to Guwahati by a C 130 Aircraft of the Indian Air Force to assist in the rescue operations.
Meanwhile, a delegation of Congress MLAs from Meghalaya also shot of a letter to the Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma with their findings and suggestions after the Congress MLAs including Ampareen Lyngdoh, Mohendro Rapsang, Dr Azad Zaman local MLA, Shitlang Palae and others visited Ksan village,Saipung on Friday
The team of Congress MLAs in its memorandum said that in their field visit, they had observed that there were several lacunae in the arrangements made by the district administration.
They suggested the East Jaintia Hills Deputy Commissioner must be immediately recalled from leave as it is surprising to note that the DC had been allowed to proceed on leave in spite of a disaster of such a scale
“Precious lives are at stake but officers put in charge of the rescue operations has been allowed to go on leave, with no senior officer in charge of the operations,” the memorandum said
They also said that a senior level officer at the level of Commissioner & Secretary should be put in charge of the entire rescue operations and to coordinate with the National & State teams which will improve the coordination and decisions can be speeded up.
According to Congress MLAs, and IGP level officer should to be deputed to the site and may be asked to coordinate amongst the NDRF, SDRF & State Police.