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QRT caught in red tape: Project yet to get finance dept clearance


Tahir Mushtaq 

GNS JAMMU, Dec: The proposal for fully equipped Quick Rescue Teams (QRTs), to be deployed with ambulances for immediate rescue operations in times of road accidents on highways in the state, has been stuck with the finance department for over two year now. 
“The project for purchasing equipments for QRTs on highways had been gathering dust in finance department for the last two years, with the transport ministry least bothering to make efforts for getting it cleared,” official sources said. 
Sources said that though some teams were constituted under the chairmanship of deputy commissioners and deployed on accident prone areas along the highways in the mountainous Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban districts, yet these teams have not been provided with necessary equipments, required at the time of rescue operations, virtually making them handicapped.” 
On February 2009, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had announced for deployment of QRTs equipped with ambulances for immediate rescue operations in times of road accidents on highways in the state. He had also suggested creation of a corpus to provide insurance cover to passengers travelling in commercial vehicles in the state so that in eventualities the families of the victims were paid relief from the corpus fund. 
The idea behind constituting QRTs was conceived during the tenure of former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. A senior official requesting anonymity told TNI, “Nothing was done to make QRTs effective. Though we took up the matter with higher authorities several times vis-à-vis lack in infrastructure and equipments, our pleas remained unheard.” 
“We had demanded ambulances, longer ropes and other equipments to retrieve injured persons and vehicles from deep gorges and the mighty Chenab flowing through these districts but we were not provided the same. It creates several problems in rescue operations and we fail sometimes to save precious human lives,” he regretted. 
Minister for Transport Qamar Ali Akhoon said, “These teams are in-operation but the project for making these QRTs fully equipped have yet to get clearance from the finance department. We have also planned to deploy these teams in Rajouri and Poonch districts to save the precious human lives in teams of road mishaps.”

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