The Good Samaritans

The famous Greek proverb says that a friend in need is a friend in deed. Whole of Himachal Pradesh is affected by devastating floods and landslides following incessant rains. In this unprecedented challenging situation, some top police officers, mostly women, took the cudgel and led the way in addressing the unprecedented crisis.

Amid the devastation on June 23, ADGP Satwant Atwal Trivedi got the additional charge of DGP as head of state police. She immediately used Twitter to connect with stranded tourists and provide solace to their concerned families. She remained put on the danger spots personally for 24 hours a day and seven days a week and coordinated all relief and rescue operations.

Sitting in the control room at the police headquarters, which she got set up in a few hours, she organised evacuations and sent assistance immediately. She is constantly on social media tapping the situation on the ground, ensuring quick outreach and also informing the families of the persons stranded in different rain/flood-hit areas about their safety and well-being. The 1996 batch first women IPS from the state, Trivedi also happens to be the first woman officer in NIA and BSF and is credited for successfully incorporating emerging technologies such as Artificial intelligence into the Border Security Force.

On a single day on July 11, more than 200 persons contacted police on the dedicated helpline. Three hundred persons stranded at Chandratal  (14,100 feet) was the biggest worry but she managed to reach out to them by coordinating with ground teams and also deployed helicopters for their evacuation and drones for essential medicines. In total about 60,000 tourists were evacuated from all over the deluge ridden state mostly with the help of police, administration and even locals.

Later, to boost the morale of the force, she tweeted: “With Khaki as armour, the national emblem as our crown, we rededicate ourselves to serve the citizens (in distress). With hope for a brighter tomorrow, pray for more strength and zeal for every boot on the ground.” Incidentally, her husband Abhishek Trivedi, Additional Director General of Police (Law and order), is also supervising control room operations and coordinating with district SPs and their teams. There are many young lady IAS officers who came forward and worked the infield be it rains or storm. Sakshi Verma, is one such dedicated officer of 2014 batch IPS officer and is the superintendent of police, Kullu,  which is the most affected district. Firstly, she focused on making connections with the tourists so as to assure that they were safe, side by side she got roads cleared and then started the process of sending them back, many have been rescued by foot as well.

Another women IPS officer of 2010 batch, Soumya Sambasivan, SP Manali during the flood crisis, was seen walking in the rain in remote villages convincing people to move to safer areas and helped them to shift to safe places. Two other IPS officers, Shalini Agnihotri, who is handling the state’s biggest district, Kangra, and Dr Akriti Sharma are actively touring the flood-affected areas and helping people round the clock. It is not that only women police officers came to the forefront to rescue the marooned people in Himachal Pradesh.

In Chandratal which was the most arduous operation Mayank Chaudhary, a young and daring 2019-batch IPS officer personally supervised rescues of many tourists, some of them foreigners. The evacuation of the about 500 tourists in 58 vehicles, who were stationed in government camps in the vicinity of Chandertal for five days, began in the morning after the snow-clearing operation on a 30-km stretch between Losar and the Kunzum Pass, the gateway to the lake, was over. The DGP Satwant Atwal, tweeted: “Man of the Moment. He stood tall in 4 feet of snow at Chandertal for the last three days/nights.

Kept everyone in high spirits and left last after ensuring evacuation of all 266 tourists. Proud of you Mayank.” Even local people, the hoteliers, the shop [ keepers and even ordinary residents came forward to help the stranded tourists from other states. They offered free stay and food whatever they could manage since there was a severe shortage of essential commodities too. In some cases, they even provided their warm clothes and blankets to the tourists in the night.

The exceptional services did not go unnoticed. Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu praised the women IPS officers who were able to establish contacts with affected families and coordinate the rescue of the tourists. In total about 60,000 tourists were rescued and evacuated from different parts of the deluged state.