Animal rescue: GHMC’s DRF teams to get new equipment

In most of the rescue operations, the DRF personnel use the conventional methodologies, ropes and equipment, and face lot of hardships, not to mention the risks involved

Hyderabad: Teams of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s Disaster Response Force (DRF), which had been rescuing animals, cattle and pets from dangers, will now get advanced equipment to take up rescue operations in a more professional manner. Following alerts from the citizens, these teams have been rushing and taking up operations to rescue deer, cows, eagles, kitten and others in different parts of the city. In one case, a cow was rescued after falling into a septic tank at Alwal and in another a street dog was saved from an open well at lower Tank Bund.

But in most of these rescue operations, the DRF personnel use the conventional methodologies, ropes and equipment, and face lot of hardships, not to mention the risks involved. In a particular rescue operation, the DRF members had to get into an open well with just ropes tied around their waist.

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Presently, there are 19 DRF teams working under GHMC and they take up at least couple of animal or cattle rescue operations a week, said Enforcement, Vigilance and Disaster Management Director Viswajit Kampati. To address the hardships faced by the personnel in their operations, efforts are being made to have the rescuers better equipped in terms of required paraphernalia.

An NGO, which has been involved in such rescue operations, has come up with a list of equipment that is generally used in such operations. These equipment not only help in completing the rescue operation more efficiently but also facilitate in ensuring the safety of both the DRF personnel and the rescued animal or cattle or dogs, he said.

Accordingly, 27 different items are being procured with a cost of Rs 17 lakh and will be introduced in a few weeks. These equipment include reach pole, waist harness, body harness, ascenders, knee ascenders, climbing shoes, inspection cameras, animal capturing nets, animal crates for dogs and cats, net throwing gun, oxygen cylinders and others.

“The equipment is being procured to make things easier for the personnel and also complete the rescue operations faster,” said Viswajit Kampati.

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