NE states to join countrywide civil defence mock drill tomorrow

Agartala/Imphal/Shillong, May 6 (IANS) The northeastern states would join in the nationwide civil defence mock drill on Wednesday.

The mock exercise is being conducted at more than 244 locations across the country on the directive of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as part of heightened security measures following the April 22 terror attack at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 innocent civilians, mostly tourists, were killed.

As per the MHA directives, the civil defence mock drill would be conducted in 52 districts in eight northeastern states.

Of the 52 districts, the exercise would be conducted in 15 districts in Assam, followed by 10 in Nagaland, 8 in Tripura, seven in Meghalaya, five each in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur and one each district in Mizoram and Sikkim.

In Meghalaya, Directorate of Civil Defence and Home Guards in an announcement said that the mock exercise on air raid precaution measures would be conducted on Wednesday afternoon from 4 p.m. onwards.

"The air raid siren would be sounded at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday evening and there would be a "black-out" exercise (power-shutdown) only for two minutes immediately after the siren is sounded," the announcement said.

The Civil Defence authority requested the people not to panic as this is being done as part of a mock exercise for air raids.

In Tripura, state government's Revenue (including Relief, Rehabilitation and Disaster Management) Secretary Brijesh Pandey said that as per the directions of the MHA, a comprehensive civil defence mock drill would be conducted on Wednesday in all eight districts of the state.

The District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMAs) and District Civil Defence Corps would coordinate the drill with active participation from various emergency and disaster response stakeholders, Pandey told the media.

He said that the objective of this mock drill is to assess the preparedness, efficacy, and coordination among civil defence units and allied agencies in responding to hostile attacks and emergencies.

The drill would include testing the alert systems, evacuation procedures, public safety measures, and inter-agency coordination.

The trained Civil Defence Volunteers are spread across all the eight districts.

The Civil Defence Volunteers act as frontrunner for crisis response with other key responders in the state.

These volunteers would participate in the mock drill, the official said.

Pandey added: "People are requested to be calm and adhere to safety protocols during the exercise. The public is informed that this is only a mock drill."

In Manipur, officials said that in the mock exercises, police, Civil Defence, Fire Department, State and National Disaster Response Force, Health Department, Manipur State Power Distribution Company, educational institutions, state museum, and Information and Public Relations Directorate would be involved.

Preparations for the civil defence mock drill are underway in all the eight northeastern states.

--IANS

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