LUCKNOW, Jan. 24 -- In the wake of the Noida pit tragedy that triggered nationwide outrage, principal secretary (revenue) Aparna U on Friday called for stronger coordination among the Uttar Pradesh Police, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and other related departments to cut response time during disasters. Reviewing the functioning of the SDRF and NDRF at a meeting on Friday, Aparna stressed the use of the latest technologies in the Integrated Disaster Control Centre. She also directed that reporting, monitoring and response systems be strengthened for both natural and man-made disasters. The review comes days after the death of 27-year-old software engineer Yuvraj Mehta, whose car fell into a water-filled pit in Noida on January 17. Mehta reportedly stood atop his car for about 90 minutes requesting help before it sank completely. Though teams from the police, fire department, SDRF and NDRF reached the site, their arrival was delayed due to dense fog and communication gaps, according to reports. During the review meeting, the principal secretary called for enhancing the specialised capabilities of the SDRF and NDRF, increasing the number of trained swimmers and strengthening water-based and drowning-related rescue operations. She said disaster management should not remain confined to institutional structures and must have active community participation at its core. Volunteers should be prepared through phased and technical training, while the civil defence system should also be strengthened, she added. Aparna U directed officials to regularly conduct capacity-building programmes for the SDRF, along with community awareness initiatives, school safety programmes, field training exercises, urban disaster prevention training and water-based rescue drills. As part of long-term planning, she said efforts should be made to gradually introduce life-saving skills such as swimming into the school education system to make future generations more disaster-aware and resilient. She also underlined the importance of using drones, robots, search cameras, underwater equipment and other advanced technologies in rescue operations, especially in areas where immediate human access is not possible....