Silchar immersion: Disaster response forces rescue drowning man; “He is intoxicated,” NDRF

Durga Idol immersion started today morning. The Cachar district administration rolled out certain rules and regulations for the Puja committees and families to follow. In the morning, slots were allotted to the residences for the immersion of the idols. A total of 214 sets of idols are slotted to be immersed in the river Barak at the Sadarghat Bisarjan Ghat.

While the immersion process was going on as per plan, a mishap disrupted the entire process. Associated with a residential Durga Puja, a man jumped into the deep river while immersing the idol. He started swimming across, but the strong flow of the water was diverting him to the longer route. Seeing the man flowing towards the middle, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) triggered a response and rescue operation.

Using lifeboats, the jawans rushed to the spot and rescued him. After the rescue operation, Gajendra Singh, Sub-inspector, NDRF said, “In all likelihood, the man was under the influence of alcohol and he willingly jumped into the river. Because he was intoxicated, we sensed he won’t be able to cross the river and that is why we launched a rescue operation.”

Gajendra Singh added, “After rescuing him, our jawans have handed him over to the Police officials and he is fine. We can confirm that he has not incurred any injuries.”

Superintendent of Police, Cachar Ramandeep Kaur visited the Bisarjan Ghat and inspected the proceedings. Till now, 56 sets of idols have been immersed. The SP said, “We are following the SOP issued by the government of Assam the the security measures are at place to conduct safe and secure immersion in the district,” asserted Kaur.