Mock drills will be held across Assam in Kamrup (M), Sonitpur, Jorhat, Sivasagar, Golaghat, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur, Karbi Anglong, Darrang, Goalpara, Bongaigaon, Dhubri, and Kokrajhar.
Digital Desk: Amid escalating tensions with Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has directed several Indian states, including Assam to initiate comprehensive mock drills on May 7.
As per official sources, the mock drill will be held to prepare the civilians for emergency and safety-related measures during potential or critical situations.
Mock drills will be held across Assam in Kamrup (M), Sonitpur, Jorhat, Sivasagar, Golaghat, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur, Karbi Anglong, Darrang, Goalpara, Bongaigaon, Dhubri, and Kokrajhar.
Earlier on Tuesday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma addressed a press conference at Lok Sewa Bhawan and said that the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the drill will be announced after a meeting between the Chief Secretaries and the Union Home Secretary.
According to the Home Ministry, the mock drill will be conducted across 244 Civil Defence districts in 9 states and union territories.
Civilians, students, civil defence wardens, firefighting units, rescue services, and volunteers from organizations like the National Cadet Corps (NCC)and National Service Scheme (NSS) will take part in the mock drill.
The mock drill, scheduled on May 7, will be the first nationwide civil defence drill of its kind since the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971.
The primary objectives of the mock drill are as follows:
1. To assess the effectiveness of air raid warning systems
2. Operationalisation of Hotline/Radio Communication Links with the Indian Air Force
3. To test the functionality of control rooms and shadow control rooms
4. Training of civilians, students, etc, on the civil defence aspects to protect themselves in the event of a hostile attack
5. Provision of crash black out measures
6. Provision for early camouflaging of vital plants/installations
7. To verify the activation and response of Civil Defence services, including warden services, firefighting, rescue operations, and depot management
8. To assess the implementation of crash blackout measures
9. To evaluate the preparedness of evacuation plans & their execution
What is a civil defence mock drill?
Civil defence is a preparedness exercise that tests how civilians and government systems respond during emergencies like war, missile attacks, or aerial strikes.
This mock drill comes after the Pahalgam massacre at the Baisaran Valley of Jammu and Kashmir on April 22.
As India prepares for a response against Pakistan and its sponsorship of terrorism, India's top leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have pledged to punish all the terrorists and their backers.
The Pahalgam terror attack is considered one of the deadliest attacks in J&K since the 2019 Pulwama attack, following an open fire by the Resistance Force (TRF), a local offshoot of Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
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