Tuesday, 07 March 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The incidents of road accidents, brawls increase during Holi
The 108 emergency ambulance service has kept its fleet on high alert to meet the increased inflow of calls on the festival of Holi. The service has cancelled the leaves of its staff and has started gearing itself up to meet the challenges on the festival of Holi.
Additional mobile teams have been pressed into service for Holi in all the districts of the State. 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 service has also kept 18 ambulances as back up so that immediate replacement can be sent for ambulances which develop snag during the operations.
The general manager, projects, Anil Sharma took a meeting at the headquarters of the service on Monday to take stock of the preparations for Holi. He said that arrangements should be made to ensure that the ambulances don’t get stuck in traffic in Holi. It is pertinent to mention here that the ambulance service receives more accident related calls on Holi. In view of the expected increase in the number of calls the service has decided to deploy additional technical staff in the central call center.
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 day.
The service received 221 calls related to traffic accidents in three days (March 17 to 19) during Holi last year. It received a total of 1821 calls during these three days last year. The service has also decided to keep its fleet of ambulances in Khushiyon Ki Sawari fully operational during Holi.
