Public-private partnership to coordinate relief and rescue

INTER-AGENCY RESPONSE GROUP OF 50 ORGANISATIONS FORMED
ORGANISATION OUTLINES CORE PRINCIPLES, RESTORES COMMUNICATION LINK WITH LACHEN, LACHUNG AND CHUNGTHANG
GANGTOK, 23 Sept: The State police, district administration, STDC and different national and international NGOs have come together to form an umbrella body by the name of “Inter Agency Response Group” [IARG] operating out of the helipad here in the capital.
Coordinator IARG, Vikrant Mahajan of Sphere India, New Delhi, informed today that IARG has a total of 50 organizations out of which 14 are from outside the State and the remaining local.

“There are UN agencies, the Red Cross, agencies of the Government of India in the IARG. We, in the past, have had intelligence groups in 15 states in the country and now we have formed a specialized team in Sikkim yesterday. We had a coordination meeting here last evening at 6:30 pm and have decided on a core principal,” informed the IARG Coordinator.
Further, as per information received from TAAS advisor, Paljor Lachungpa who is also now part of the IARG, an intelligence coordination meeting was held where it was decided that two more Pawan Hans choppers be brought for the rescue and relief works here in Sikkim.
“The helicopters have come and the STDC fleet now has three choppers. One of the choppers which came in yesterday is a specialized high altitude helicopter with more seating capacity. This will be more effective for the rescue operations,” he said. “Most of the choppers being used for rescue thus far are basically small, two to three seater helicopters,” added Mr. Lachungpa.
It was also informed that the first step taken by the group was to unanimously agree on the core principal and elect the executive body. Committees have been formed and quick response groups constituted. Then there are the sub-committees from all the districts which will look after the operations in their districts through the appointed coordinators.
“We have started relief distribution as requested by the district administration and this morning delivered a relief package to Nandok. We have also raised membership fees and the money collected is being used for coordination purposes. As and when the weather clears we will go by the plans and the need of the moment,” informed the IARG Coordinator.
It may also be mentioned that the IARG have already managed to air-drop additional communication sets which they received from the Forest and the Police department to affected areas such as Chungthang, Lachen and Lachung.
“We have sent the sets and have installed them. With these, we are now connected with these three areas. We have also sent in coordinators with the sets who will coordinate and inform Gangtok about the requirements of relief and rescue from there,” informed Mr. Lachungpa.
IARG will also try and dispatch relief into Dzongu and try and restore communication in the area as soon as possible, it was informed.
IARG can be contacted at 9818666831.