How Himachal Police's Right Assesment and OSINT Strategy Saved State From Tailspin, But Still More To Do

Himachal Pradesh is currently reeling under the heavy storm, the situation has almost brought the "Queen of Hills" to its knees. infrastructure, communications, and connectivity are badly hit. 48 hours have passed on, and Himachal Pradesh Police is burning the midnight oil to control the situation in coordination with the NDRF and SDRF. As Himachal battles, few things are worth observing despite being a worst-hit state in the north, the state police didn't let the situation spiral. First- The state machinery especially the Police had the right assessment of the situation and were on standby mode at the ground, as soon as the storm hit, a coordinated response in launching relief operations was initiated which to some extent helped the force minimize the impact of the first massive hit, sources say. Second- Himachal's Disaster Management Plan updated three years back put the force on the right track and saved them from going into complete disarray. HP Police is currently going as per the plan and following strategic measures of identification which involves identification of the vulnerable human settlements, vital installations, religious places etc that are susceptible to flash floods, further structural measures of maintenance and retaining walls in appropriate places and other protection and rescue work like airlifting would follow as and when the weather and situation improves, sources say. Third is DGP's Atwal with the combined effort of force launched the Open Source Intelligence Watch. Himachal Police including the DGP are keeping a watch on Open sources(media platforms, social media platforms, and accessing local information) to increase their reach to affected people and identify vulnerable and damaged areas. Despite all these pumping efforts, Himachal Pradesh stands with 37 dead still counting, major highways damaged, bridges collapsed- choking Himachal's transport route connectivity. Though additional forces like NDRF, and Amry have joined hands to step up the rescue and relief operations, the story of every disaster hit Hill State remains the same- Construction and dumping of the debris. Though, two weeks back the state government notified  Shimla Development Plan and banned new construction near National Highways but long measures such as these do not deliver results instantly, they should have notified way back so that damage could have been minimized to a large extent, according to reports, Himachal Pradesh has incurred a loss of 785 crore Rs. But, right measures, assessment, and DGP Satwant Atwal-led OSINT strategy did help to control the situation and not let it snowball into a Kedarnath-like nightmare, however, the question still stands firm- When we will fix our errors at the right time?