Union home secretary to review preps for civil defence mock drills

New Delhi: Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan will on Tuesday review the preparations for strengthening civil defence mechanisms that include conducting mock drills on air-raid warning sirens, training civilians to protect themselves in the event of a "hostile attack" and cleaning bunkers and trenches.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has asked all states to conduct mock drills on Wednesday, given the "new and complex threats" that have emerged amid rising tensions with Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack.

"The home secretary will review the preparations for civil defence being made across 244 districts. Chief secretaries and heads of civil defence from across the country will participate in the meeting via video conferencing," a source said.

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.

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

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 UTs 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.

"The conduct of the exercise is planned up to the village level. This exercise aims to assess and enhance the readiness of civil defence mechanisms across all states and Union territories," the letter said.

It said the active participation of the district controllers, various district authorities, civil-defence wardens, volunteers, home guards (active and reservists volunteers), National Cadet Corps (NCC), National Service Scheme (NSS), Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS), college and school students is envisaged in the exercise.

"The said civil defence exercise is aimed to assess the operational efficacy and operational coordination of various civil defence measures," it said.

There have been rising tensions in relations between India and Pakistan after the April 22 terror attack in south Kashmir's Pahalgam, in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to pursue the perpetrators of the attack and those who took part in its conspiracy to the "ends of the earth" to inflict punishment on them "beyond their imagination".