Siliguri, July 11: A police team will get cracking on combating calamity from tomorrow.

The team of 11, led by an inspector and comprising 10 constables, will be taught to tackle crises by professionals from Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and Himalayan Nature and Adventure Foundation (HNAF), a local NGO.

The mountaineers have been summoned by Darjeeling superintendent of police Rajeev Mishra, who has handpicked the “young” team from members of the force in the hills.

The candidates will be taught the basics of rock climbing and advanced rescue operation techniques as part of their training exercise.

“We lack the expertise to deal with calamities like the one at Gayabari last year, or Sevoke a few days ago,” Mishra said. “I was impressed by how HNAF members worked under crisis after last Tuesday’s tragedy.”

Members of the foundation were among the first to reach the site of the July 6 accident, in which five people were killed when the Tata Sumo they were travelling in plunged into a 500-foot gorge near Coronation Bridge, some 22 km from the town.

Mishra had convened a meeting with Hnaf and Darjeeling Initiative, a social forum that was instrumental in contributing seven truckloads of relief material and food for the survivors of the Gayabari landslide last year, to chalk out details of forming the rescue cell.

Inspector of the district enforcement branch J.B. Lepcha will act as the nodal officer of the cell, which will have its office at the Siliguri emergency force line at Mallaguri

The cell has been provided with a vehicle and a police ambulance. The general public can call 0353 2515501 (the phone number at the control room) in the event of a calamity or emergency.

“We are arranging for an inflatable raft with an out boat motor at Teesta Bazaar for rescue operations on the Teesta,” Mishra said.” Discussions will be taken up with the state police top brass to provide funds to purchase rescue-operation equipment.

Lauding the initiative, HNAF programme coordinator Animesh Bose told The Telegraph: “Thanks to Rajeev Mishra’s initiative, we can jointly take up rescue operations.”

Ajay Edwards, a member of Darjeeling Initiative, echoed Bose. “We don’t have HNAF’s expertise in rescue operations, but are willing to pitch in by providing relief material and food for victims. We will also help in raising money from Darjeeling residents, whose response to our call during last year’s campaign for relief for the Gayabari landslide victims was overwhelming,” he said.

The special cell of the police and the NGOs involved, however, do not want to limit themselves to calamities only.

“We will take up joint campaigns to combat the menace of drug addiction in future,” Mishra said.