'OFF DUTY, I’M A QUIET FAMILY MAN'
An hour after a seven-storey residential building, with more than 130 people inside, collapsed in Shil Phata in rural Thane on April 4, Alok Avasthy, commandant of the 5th Battalion of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), got a call asking him to send in his rescue team.
Within 20 minutes, a team of 45 paramilitary personnel left Talegaon, Pune, the NDRF base for the Maharashtra and Goa region, arriving at Shil Phata in about four hours. A second team reached the site the next morning.
Under the command of 44-year-old Avasthy, both teams took over the rescue operation, fighting the clock as they tried to get residents trapped between layers of debris out alive.
After a 72-hour joint operation with firefighters, policemen and other emergency services, 62 people were rescued and 72 dead bodies recovered.
“It is a horrendous experience to witness dead bodies emerging from rubble, but if even one life is saved, it is worth it,” says Avasthy.
The first responders during such disasters are usually the local police and firefighters, but the NDRF is the only disaster response agency specially trained in handling manmade disasters, including biological and radiological hazards, chemical attacks and nuclear calamities, and natural disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes.
Growing up in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, Avasthy had always wanted to be a policeman.
After graduating in physics, chemistry and mathematics in 1988, he joined the Central Reserve Police Force in 1993, fulfilling that childhood dream.
For the next 16 years, he served in var ious troublespots, including Srinagar, Nagaland and Manipur, also taking a break in 2009 to earn an MBA in human resource management.
“Man-management is a crucial aspect of this job,” he says. “It was a degree I felt I should have.” Partly as a result of his qualifications, and partly because of his record of service, Avasthi was transferred to the NDRF soon after its creation, in January 2009, and appointed commandant of the Maharashtra and Goa region.
Avasthy currently heads a team of 1,149 paramilitary personnel, specially trained in disaster management, relief and rescue and basic combat.
He has handled 83 operations in four years — including a chlorine leak in Mumbai, floodwater rescue operation in Yavatmal, and search-and-rescue operations in a Pune dam — overseeing the rescue of a total of 2,556 people and the recovery of 243 bodies.
If there is one thing he has learnt, he says, it is that equipment is crucial “We have sometimes saved people up to nine days after a disaster, because we have equipment that can detect life under piles of rubble,” says Avasthy. During a disaster, Avasthy spends all day on site or in his Talegaon office, supervising and coordinating rescue efforts and administrative support.
In non-disaster periods, Avasthy’s day begins at 5.30 am, in the three-bedroom duplex home in Talegaon that he shares with his wife, a schoolteacher, his two daughters and his mother.
At 6.15 am, he heads to the PT ground, where he leads his team in an hour of physical training exercises — mainly running and stamina-building workouts.
He then heads back home for a light breakfast of idlis, cereal or poha and, at 9.25 am, walks to his office, where he spends the next four hours on administrative work and paperwork.
At 1.30 pm, he returns home for lunch. A sports enthusiast, Avasthy was a university-level tennis player and still plays almost every day, usually after lunch, from 3.30 pm to 6 pm
The rest of the evening is spent with the family.
“Other than the thrill and satisfaction I derive from my job, I love teaching my daughters, spending time with my family and going out to the movies,” adds Avasthy. “Even though my work is my biggest motivation, watching inspirational movies like Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar and Chak De rejuvenate me and motivate me to work harder.”