State to set up 200-member elite emergency response team
Times of India | 26 June 2026
Kolkata: The state govt on Thursday announced the setting up of a 200-member, highly skilled, elite team for quick response to an emergency, like the Taratala tragedy.
“The rescue operation at Taratala is continuing. Keeping the need for emergency response to such incidents in mind, the state has decided to form a special team,” state finance minister Swapan Dasgupta at the assembly on Thursday. “It will be a team of highly trained professionals with modern machines to deal with such situations.”
Dasgupta said of the 200 members, 50 would be stationed in the Hills, 50 would be deployed in the Sunderbans and the rest across the state. According to a state secretariat official, the team will be structured on the lines of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
Formed with members of the state police forces in Odisha, these mobile units were the first to hit the ground during the Amphan. The Odisha govt dispatched a 500-member interstate team to help Bengal with post-cyclone relief and debris removal. “During Amphan, such teams from Odisha helped us. We need a similar specialised team in Bengal,” Dasgupta said.