Noida techie death sparks call for NDRF and QRT units to tackle highrise fires, crashes

Noida: Weeks after the Jan 17 drowning of 27-year-old Yuvraj Mehta in a water-filled construction pit in Sector 150, members of a district residents' welfare association (DDRWA) on Wednesday flagged long-standing civic neglect and sought a dedicated quick response team for emergencies.

The delegation met additional chief executive officers (ACEOs) Soumya Srivastava and Srilakshmi VS at the Greater Noida Authority and emphasised the need for a quick response team for the district. They also demanded helicopter support to deal with accidents in construction pits and fires in high-rise societies and nearby villages.




Currently, emergency response operations in Noida are handled by the SDRF and NDRF units stationed in Ghaziabad. On Jan 16-17 night, the SDRF team from Ghaziabad took at least 70 mins to reach the accident spot in Sector 150 after Mehta's first SOS call to his father at 12.04 am, while the NDRF unit took nearly 2 hours. Mehta, however, drowned, crying his lungs out as he waited to be pulled out. According to police, Yuvraj managed to stay afloat till around 1.30 am, after which his cries for help stopped.

Statements recorded by a three-member special investigation team (SIT), probing why rescue operations began nearly two hours after the car fell into the trench, suggested that the agencies had offered differing explanations for the delay, citing equipment constraints, weather and poor visibility.

In Jan, Dadri MLA Tejpal Nagar had also written to chief minister Yogi Adityanath seeking the deployment of an SDRF or NDRF unit in Noida.

GNIDA officials told an RWA delegation that a recent joint meeting of all three authorities had discussed plans to house NDRF personnel in Greater Noida to enable faster emergency response.

"We have received a request from the NDRF for residential accommodation with storage space for equipment, as they currently operate out of Ghaziabad and have limited facilities in Noida," said additional CEO Srivastava. "Plans are underway to provide around 60 residential units with equipment storage in Sector Omicron so they can respond swiftly during emergencies."

Srivastava added that a quick response team (QRT) would also be deployed soon in order to handle disaster management and emergency situations.

The fire department, the official said, is in the process of procuring a hydraulic platform with a reach of up to 200 metres, along with other firefighting equipment. The proposal for helicopter services will be placed before the boards of the three authorities for approval.