Deceased, retired staff on NMC disaster management cell list

Nagpur: It shouldn’t come as a surprise if Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s disaster management cell did not respond to any monsoon-related emergency call. And the reason is bizarre: The NMC’s enforcement department has named two employees — one who died a couple of years ago and another has retired two years back.
The deployment of manpower in the cell was okayed by additional municipal commissioner Ram Joshi.
Like every year, the NMC formed a disaster management cell to extend timely help in case of an emergency in the city during monsoon. For expeditious action, it also formed zone-wise teams and around 220 officials from across various NMC departments have been deployed on the cell. The cell, which was activated on June 1, will remain vigilant till September 30, 2021.
Deputy municipal commissioner (enforcement) named hawaldar Anil Chauhan and mazdoor Prabhakar Ambekar to address emergency calls for the June 1-September 30, 2021 duration and were supposed to remain on duty from 8am to 8pm.
The cell, monitored by the NMC’s fire and emergency services department, found these two employees missing from duty since June 1. An enquiry into the missing staff revealed that Chauhan had died a couple of years ago and Ambekar had retired from service.
Sources questioned the NMC’s lackadaisical approach in addressing issues involving lives of Nagpurians.
What’s more, sources claimed that rarely did anyone of the 220-odd people deputed on the cell were on the field during emergency situations like heavy rain like the one that lashed the city on July 8.
Barring sanitary workers and NMC’s fire department personnel, none of the cell’s staff can be found on duty at the time of emergency calls. Citing examples, sources said even calls about tree uprooting were attended to by firemen, who also attended the task of dewatering in low-lying areas.
Executive engineers, who were given the charge of zone-wise disaster cell, too were not reachable after office hours, said sources.
Additional municipal commissioner Ram Joshi was not available for comments. Mayor Dayashankar Tiwari assured inquiry into the incident.