The service kept on high alert; leaves of employees cancelled.
Thursday, 17 March 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
In view of the past experience where road accidents and incidents of brawls increase on Holi, the 108 emergency ambulance service has kept its fleet at high alert. The service has cancelled the leaves of its staff and has made arrangements for deployment of security personnel with every ambulance.
Additional mobile teams have been pressed into service for Holi in all the districts. These teams would remain active from 6 AM to 8 PM on Holi and would keep an eye on the alertness of the employees.
The general manager (Projects), Anil Sharma took a meeting at the headquarters of the service on Wednesday to take stock of the preparations. He said that arrangements should be made to ensure that the ambulances don’t get stuck in traffic in Holi.
In Dehradun the ambulances would be kept ready at all the major traffic intersections such as Survey Chowk, Clock Tower, Jakhan, Raipur, Ballupur, Premnagar, Race Course and Vidhan Sabha.
Sharma informed that the ambulance service receives more accident related calls during Holi.The GM said that in view of the expected increase in the number of calls additional technical staff would be deployed in the central call centre of the service during Holi.
Emergencies like road traffic accidents, violent brawls and food poisoning on account of intoxication are received by the ambulance service during the Holi. The experience suggests that maximum numbers of emergencies are received from Dehradun, Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital district on the festival day. The service received 271 calls related to traffic accidents in three days ( March 28 to 30) during Holi last year.
The service has also decided to keep its fleet of ambulances in Khushiyon Ki Sawari (KKK) fully operational during Holi.
