INTRODUCTION

            There have been many serious accidents in Indian Railways in the past in which many human lives has been lost. It has been observed during these disasters that there was no proper and comprehensive disaster management plan all over the Indian Railways for expeditious, orderly, effective and adequate relief and rescue measures to tackle such disasters. This has led to severe criticisms by the general public, print and electronic media and bad image of the Railways in the eyes of the general public. Because of the advancement of technology and faster communication, the information about any accident or disaster reaches the general public and the highest authority very fast and, therefore, any delay in rescue and relief operation is highlighted immediately. Therefore, it has become very essential that a comprehensive disaster management plan is drawn by the Railways. The Ministry of Railways, Government of India, therefore, set up a high level committee for disaster management plan all over in Railways comprising of the following members :-

1.   Sri S. Dhasarathy, Member Mechanical, Railway Board – Convener

2.   Sri M.C. Srivastava, Member Traffic, Railway Board – Member

3.   Sri Vijayalakshmi Viswanathan, Financial Commissioner – Member

4.   Dr. K. Suresh, Director General/Railway Health Services  – Member

5.   Dr. A. K. Pandey, Director General/Railway Protection Force – Member

The committee has submitted its report to the Ministry of Railways in April-2003. The terms of references of the above committee are –

(a)   To review the existing Disaster Management System over IR related to train accidents and natural calamities

and to suggest improvements.

(b)  To identify the technological and managerial inputs in order to quicken the pace of relief and rescue operations.

(c)  To institute a standing arrangement with other Central Ministries, State Governments and Armed Forces to enable quick and smooth restoration operations without any legal or procedural hurdles.

In many countries, in the unfortunate event of a railway accident, relief and rescue work is not spearheaded by the Railway organization, but by the civil authorities, as in the case of road accidents/other disasters. The role of the Railway systems in these countries is restricted to clearing the track and restoring traffic after the rescue work is over.

          Even in India, the various State Governments and district authorities are having their disaster management plan. For example, for the state of Orissa, Orissa State Disaster Mitigation Authority is the agency of the Government of Orissa to tackle disasters. Different districts of the state of Orissa are also having their disaster management plans. The State of Jharkhand and its various districts are also preparing their disaster management plans.

          However, Railways have been historically handling rescue and relief operations in railway accidents and, therefore, Indian Railways has to rise to the expectations of the public. Further, significant technological advancements have taken place in the area of post disaster relief and rescue operations. Consequently, a number of state of the art relief and rescue equipments, tools and plants and innovative techniques have emerged during the last decade for quickening the pace of rescue and relief operation.

          The high level committee of the Indian Railways on the disaster management plan has recommended, vide recommendation No. 14, that the details of local resources should be available in the Divisional Control Office. The committee has further recommended vide its recommendation No.15 that the disaster management plan should be available with each Division. Accordingly the present Disaster Management Plan was prepared by a committee nominated by Divisional Railway Manager, Chakradharpur.

         The committee has collected various details and has analysed the various informations available to evolve effective and comprehensive disaster management plan.

This Disaster Management Plan is mainly for serious accidents involving passenger carrying trains due to any reasons.

OBJECTIVE OF DISASTER MANAGEMENT PLAN:

            The objective of the Disaster Management Plan is to manage serious accidents involving passenger carrying trains effectively with a view to –

1.  Save the life of human beings

2.  Minimize the casualties

3.  Assistance to the stranded passengers

4.  Minimize the loss of national properties

5.  Restore the traffic as quickly as possible.

The disaster management plan includes the following :-

1.   Details of local resources.

2.   Quick flow of information of various disasters to the concerned persons.

3.   Action to be taken by the various authorities of the Railways at the site and in the Divisional Control Office.

4.   Check-list.

GEOGRAPHICAL AND TROPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES OF CHAKRADHARPUR DIVISION

            The Chakradharpur Division of South Eastern Railway is spread over the following district of Jharkhand and Orissa state :-

            This Division is having 652.617 route kilometers and 1478.682 track kilometers of electrified territory and 100.577 route kilometers and 755.822 route kilometers of non-electrified territory with a total route kilometers of 753.194 and total track kilometers of 2234.504. The state wise break up of electrified and non-electrified territory is as under :-

Connectivity :-

            The headquarters of Chakradharpur Division is situated at Chakradharpur (CKP) which is the Sub-Divisional headquarter of Chakradharpur in the district of Singhbhum (West) of Jharkhand state. It is situated on the group 'A' trunk route connecting Howrah-Mumbai at a distance of 311.8 kilometers from Howrah station.

            The nearest airports are located at Jamshedpur at 95 kilometer from Chakradharpur, at Ranchi at 105 kilometer from Chakradharpur. Durlag Airport of  AAI (no regular commercial flights are operated) is situated about 5 kilometers away from the District Headquarters of Jharsuguda from where one can reach Chakradharpur Division by rail route or road route, Jharsuguda Railway station being 202 Km. from Chakradharpur Railway station by rail route.

RIVERS:-     

The following major rivers are crossed the Railway track in Chakradharpur Division :-

1.  Kharkai River between Tatanager and Adityapur stations

2.  Subarnrekha River between Kandra and Kunki stations

3.  Sona Nala between Sini and Mahalimurup stations

4.  Sanjay River between Chakradharpur and Lotapahar stations

5.  Karo River between Mahadevsal and Posoita stations

6.  Bramhani River between Panpos and Kalunga stations.

OGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE AND RESPONSIBILITY OF DEPARTMENTS OF CHAKRADHARPUR DIVISION

The Division is headed by Divisional Railway Manager who is headquartered at Chakradharpur station. He is responsible for operational and safety aspects. To discharge his duties, he is assisted by Additional Divisional Railway Manager and other various Branch Officers. The officers also posted at major stations such as Tatanager, Bondamunda and Dangoaposi stations. The important officers with respect to operational and safety aspects  are as follows

CHAKRADHARPUR : (STD Code – 06587)

TATANAGAR : (STD Code – 0657)

BONDAMUNDA : (STD Code – 0661)