Bihar floods: Army waits for orders to step in

NEW DELHI: Army needs orders to move and these have hardly been issued for infantry, engineers and allied battalions under the Lucknow-based Central Command for assisting in rescue, relief and rehabilitation work in the Kosi-ravaged east Bihar districts.
This, despite PM Manmohan Singh declaring the devastation unleashed by the river, menacingly flowing on a new course now, to be a "national calamity".The response is still largely "local", as far as the mobilization of the army goes because so far, only five columns ��� roughly 300 men ��� have been moved to the region.
Ten more columns are being moved but that is still scant given the gigantic scale of the calamity and the resources at the army's command. The disaster is 'national' only because the state, on its own, cannot cope up with the problem. A mobilization of rescuing troops by the resource-rich Central Command could have already made a big difference by now since the breach occurred 12 days ago on August 18 but the Centre's reluctance in issuing the orders is confounding.
The Bengal Engineers Group stationed at Roorkee is among the most well trained assets of the Central Command, which has the overall responsibility of providing aid to civil authorities during crises like the one Bihar is facing now. The 416 Engineers Brigade at Meerut, which recently acquired a large number of OBMs (out boat motors) for inflatable rescue boats, is equally well equipped.
Each infantry unit under a command is pre-assigned parts of a state where it would rush during emergencies to help the civil administration but in times of need, this condition can be waived. The Eastern Command at Kolkata is also equally equipped and trained but the orders for mobilization have to come from the Centre, which is monitoring the situation through a crisis management group headed by the cabinet secretary.
The army's record in tackling such situations has been exemplary and despite the National Disaster Response Force, which has deployed over 500 of its personnel in the region, the men in olive green can make all the difference.