Mumbai's Malad unveils 24x7 disaster control room ahead of monsoon

MUMBAI: In a first Malad corporator Tajinder Singh Tiwana of the BJP, on Sunday launched a dedicated 24x7 monsoon disaster control room equipped with live surveillance, labourers and a coordination mechanism with multiple civic agencies.

The control room near Maharana Pratap Garden beneath the Malad Link Road Metro Station in Malad (West), aims to monitor and respond to incidents such as water logging, traffic congestion, fallen trees, short circuits and other monsoon-related emergencies said Tiwana adding that it was a few years ago that he had considered setting up a control room as such when his mother served as the local corporator.

"Around the year 2021 I remember Ram Nagar a slum pocket in my corporator ward flooding and I myself carried a senior citizen out. This area has a nullah running past it which had aggravated the situation. On heavy rain days, I see often that the civic body is so pressurised that they don't end up sending emergency teams on time and till they do the situation has got out of control, so hence I decided to keep a team of my own," he said.

When asked about setting up a pandal as such on a public road, Tiwana who is also a BMC standing committee member said that he has taken prior permission from the civic body.

"I am paying these labourers out of my own pocket and they have been asked to ensure that they are available 24 X 7 so that in case of any extreme rain events in the night hours as well they are present to take immediate action. We have also equipped them with drain cleaning equipments that can help to clear any blockage, tree trimming equipments and floats too," he added further.

As part of the initiative, Wi-Fi-enabled surveillance cameras have been installed at six flood-prone locations across the ward to facilitate real-time monitoring. The live feeds are expected to help Tiwana's team identify developing situations and coordinate quicker responses with the BMC, Fire Brigade, police, disaster management authorities, electricity department.

Tiwana said conventional methods alone were insufficient to deal with modern urban challenges and that technology-driven monitoring could significantly reduce the time between reporting an incident and initiating action.