Gujarat: Mock drills to be held at 19 locations in 13 districts; minister chairs review meeting

Ahmedabad: Civil defence mock drills will be conducted at 19 locations across 13 districts of Gujarat on May 7 as per the instructions from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), officials said.

Amid growing tension between India and Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack, the MHA has issued directives to states to conduct full-scale civil defence mock drills on Wednesday.

Gujarat minister Harsh Sanghavi on Tuesday chaired a meeting with senior officials to review the proposed action plan prepared by the authorities to conduct mock drills in different parts of Gujarat, an official release said.

According to the state police control room, the exact time of the drill has not been announced yet.

To review the mock drill action plan, Sanghavi held an important meeting in Gandhinagar with key officials, including Additional Chief Secretary (Home) M K Das, Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) Jayanti Ravi, state Director General of Police (DGP) Vikas Sahay and Director General of Civil Defence Manoj Agarwal, the release said.

The MHA, through a notification, has directed the Gujarat government to carry out the mock drill at 19 different locations.

These 19 locations are Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Kakrapar (Surat), Jamnagar, Gandhinagar, Kutch, Bhuj (Kutch), Nalia (Kutch), Kandla (Kutch), Vadinar (Jamnagar), Bhavnagar, Bharuch, Ankleshwar (Bharuch), Okha (Devbhumi Dwarka), Dangs, Mehsana, Narmada and Navsari.

According to a home ministry communication, the measures to be taken during the mock drills include the operationalisation of air-raid warning sirens, training civilians on civil-defence aspects to protect themselves in the event of a "hostile attack" and cleaning bunkers and trenches.

Provisions for crash-blackout measures, early camouflaging of vital plants and installations and updating and rehearsing evacuation plans are some other measures.

The mock drills also include the operationalisation of hotline and radio-communication links with the Indian Air Force (IAF), testing the functionality of control rooms and shadow control rooms.

"In the current geo-political scenario, new and complex threats/challenges have emerged, hence, it would be prudent that optimum civil defence preparedness in the states/UTs is maintained at all times," the letter from the Directorate General Fire Service, Civil Defence and Home Guards to the states and Union Territories said.

It said the government has decided to organise a civil defence exercise and rehearsal across the 244 categorised civil defence districts in the country on May 7.