Karwar/Bengaluru: Mock drills will be conducted in Karwar, Raichur, and Bengaluru from May 7, in view of the “new and complex threats” that have emerged amid rising tensions with Pakistan following the recent terror attack in Pahalgam.
According to officials, the first mock drill will be held on the premises of the Director General, Civil Defence in Bengaluru at 4 pm, on Wednesday, while in other designated areas in the state it will be held on subsequent days decided during the week, aimed at identifying and addressing gaps in preparedness and resources.
“Mock drills will be held at three locations in the state, including Bengaluru city, which is a metropolitan area with numerous defence establishments and is a very sensitive district for Karnataka,” Prashanth Kumar Thakur, Director General of Police and Commandant General Home Guards said.
“The second location is Karwar in Uttara Kannada district, home to the Kaiga nuclear power station. The third is Raichur, selected due to the thermal power station there,” he added.
Speaking to reporters, Thakur, who is also the Director, Civil Defence; and Director General, Fire and Emergency Service and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) said, “We have discussed the mock drill components with the Ministry of Home Affairs.” He clarified that sirens are not the sole component of the drill. The exercise also includes hospital mobilisation, relief efforts, and rescue operations.
There are about 5,000 civil defence personnel in Bengaluru, all of whom will be activated and deployed across the city as part of the drill, he added.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has instructed all states to conduct such mock drills.
Thakur said the drill will be held at 4 pm tomorrow, with the timing chosen to account for both daytime and nighttime scenarios, from Northeast India to Gujarat.
The civil defence organisational structure includes people from diverse backgrounds–doctors, students, NCC cadets, and others. All of them have been trained and will be briefed and tested during the drill. By deploying them, we aim to assess and fix the gaps in preparation and resources, thereby building capability and confidence, he said.
Thakur noted that sirens have been installed at various police and fire stations.
In Bengaluru, 35 sirens have been deployed, of which 32 are functional, each with a range of approximately 3 km.
“People should know what actions to take when they hear the siren. We are expecting a formal guideline from Delhi on this. The decision regarding the drill was taken yesterday in Delhi, and we were informed last night,” he said.
“A video conference was held on Tuesday to finalise plans. We must assess our preparedness and address any shortcomings,” he added.
Thakur later in a release said, in the video conference conducted by Ministry of Home Affairs a direction was given to the states to conduct mock drill in all 244 districts identified as vulnerable areas throughout the country, and these districts have been categorized into category I, category Il and category Ill based on the vulnerability assessment.
It said in Karnataka – Mallapura (Karwar), Shaktinagara (Raichur) and Bengaluru have been included in Category lI of Civil Defence Towns by Ministry of Defence.
As per the direction of MHA to conduct Civil Defence Exercise called “Operation Abhyaas” first mock drill is being conducted at premises of Director General, Civil Defence on May 7 at 16:00 hrs, and similar exercise will be undertaken by DG, Civil Defence, in coordination with District administrations of Uttara Kannada, Raichur, Mysuru and Mandya at subsequent dates to be decided in this week, the release said.
The exercise will include: Incoming Air Raid–activation of sirens, action to be taken, blackout measures. Also, fire in the building, search & rescue, casualty evacuation from the building, temporary hospital setting up, and evacuation of civilians from endangered areas to bunkers demilitarized zones.