Meet the heroes behind Haridwar's viral river rescue

Ladies and gentlemen, let me paint a scenario for you, which many of you feel absolutely uncomfortable even thinking about it, a raging river Ganga during monsoons, and you can think of what happens in Haridwar and you know, beyond when the river is in full spate. And on the Ghats of Haridwar, filled with people before, you know, the people and devotees those who have come, one person slips and the current sweeps him away very, very quickly. As despair fills the air, onlookers thought it is the end and the river is ready to swallow this young victim. One man in this scenario answered with courage that most won't dare. He leapt into the furious waters and turned what could have been a tragedy into a story of extraordinary bravery. This is not from pages of any fiction novel, but the reality that played out recently in Haridwar in the video, which has now gone viral with people in awe saluting the efforts of, and I am going to introduce the heroes to you, Nitesh and his colleagues from the The SDRF, the State Disaster Rescue Force deployed for this daring rescue mission in Haridwar. The heroes are with us here on NDTV. It's an absolute privilege for us to bring them to you. Nitesh is joining us and Arpan Yadubanshi is also joining He is the SDRF Commandant. Thank you very much for this detachment for joining us. Nitesh, your video is making people stand in awe. I mean, where people can't even imagine that someone can do such a great thing. You jumped and saved that person's life. Can you tell us what happened that day and how did you complete the rescue mission? Sir, Jai Hind. This is Kitwal. Here at Kangra Ghat, Some of the soldiers who had come to collect water from the nearby village, were crossing the river. They were hit by a strong wind and when they were crossing, they got tired and started to drown. So I was present here at the duty point. Our team was present here. So I wore a life jacket and jumped straight to save him. With the help of my teammates, we were able to rescue Sakuzal. This is a team effort. Before going to the Commander-in-Chief, I would like to ask you a question. You jumped into the water and people thought that your work is very brave. But your team was also with you. How did your team help you in this rescue operation? Sir, this is our team work, some of our members jump in the water, if someone is drowning then we help them with the help of a life jacket, if we are not able to make an approach then we help them with the help of a throw bag, we bring them to the shore with the help of a rope. Nitesh, would you like to show us, if your other teammates are also with you right now? Why not, sir? Sir, I'll beg them. Nitesh, please tell us everyone's name. You are heroes. People should know everyone's name. And right now, when we are talking about this, ladies and gentlemen, look where they are. They are still on the duty. They are talking to us while being on the duty. They are still... Their team members are there, keeping an eye on the raging river and ready for any kind of eventuality. We are very, very fortunate that they have been able to take out the time. Nitesh, we are able to see the members of your team. How many of your people are deployed here, Nitesh? We have two sub-teams deployed here, one is at Pangda Ghat, and one sub-team is deployed at our Vairagi camp, and one sub-team is deployed at our Premnagar Ashram. You must be able to see how fast the movement I would like to ask the Commander-in-Chief because this is a very heroic effort. You have done an amazing job. People are praising Arpanjadu Banshi ji, your team, Nitesh ji, and this drilling rescue. It was such a powerful wave that no one could have imagined to put their foot in that water. How is your team trained, sir? And what is the drill? Thank you very much. The monsoon season is at its peak in Uttarakhand, and orange alert has been issued for various districts by the Eight of our teams are stationed in Haridwar and nearby Janpaths for the safety of the Kavar Yatris, which is our top priority. I am happy to tell you that all the boys are well trained in deep diving and advanced water rescue teams We are also equipped with all the sophisticated equipments like underwater drone, remote-operated lifebuoy. The boy you spoke to, Nitesh Khetwal, he has also been awarded last year for his extraordinary courage by Honorable CM Sir also. Last year, he saved the lives of around 500 people in 240 rescue operations. They are all on-ground heroes. I would like to say that the directions that we have got under the leadership of Manvi Mukherjee the safety and security of the Kavadi Yatris is of paramount importance and all our team are 24x7 alert and they are doing a good job Sir, they are doing an extraordinary job even better than doing a good job and as you said, last year 500 people were saved Nitesh, I want to ask you something For a lot of people, it might be difficult to even think of jumping into the water and risking your own life to save someone else's life. Do you ever have a doubt when you see someone? Or have you left all that behind? Has the training been such that if you see someone in trouble, you just have to jump and save them? Yes, sir. We have a lot of training in a year. Our team does deep diving, underwater surface rescue and trapping, compression, all of this is done by Passport. So, this helps us to overcome our fear. I would like to ask you, people who are watching this, they think that you are a hero. People talk about comics characters, but you are the real heroes of life. So, when people come to you and tell you, what satisfaction do you get? What can be more satisfying than saving someone's life? But when people compare you to heroes, what do you say to them? Sir, it feels good. Our commander and our team leader trust us so much. That's why they have kept us here. We are doing such a great rescue by the orders of the commander. He guides us from time to time. It feels very good, sir. Thank you very much. Thank you for being there in such a way. People have a lot of confidence that if something unusual happens to them, you are there to save their lives. And what you have done, hats off to you, sir. Salute from us and my entire team. team. We were very impressed by the video. And Commander-in-Chief, keep your team motivated so that they can jump into the harm's way when many people won't even dare. Salute to you, Nitesh, and to your entire team for this fantastic work. Thank you so much.