New Delhi: An intensive mock drill will be conducted in Delhi and NCR on Friday, August 1. 55 sensitive places have been identified for this. This mock drill will be jointly organized by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), Western Command Headquarters and Delhi Area Headquarters of the Indian Army.
Lieutenant General (Retired) Syed Ata Hasnain said, “This mock drill will be conducted keeping in mind the sensitivity of Delhi and NCR. Through this drill, the sensitivity of earthquake disaster and danger will be assessed.” Hasnain said, “This will be the first mock drill organized in Delhi and NCR, in which the sensitivity of urban areas will be tested.”
Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) CEO Krishna Kumar said, “On Friday, there will be continuous activities in various hospitals of Delhi and NCR apart from heavy movement of police vehicles and ambulances. Therefore, we appeal to the people not to panic.”
Mock drill in 5 districts of Haryana
Officials said that this mock drill will focus on earthquake and industrial chemical hazards in 18 districts. These include 11 districts of Delhi, 5 districts of Haryana (Gurugram, Faridabad, Palwal, Nuh and Rewari) and two districts of Uttar Pradesh (Gautam Buddha Nagar and Ghaziabad). He said that this will ensure coordinated action among various stakeholders including armed forces, NDRF, State Disaster Response Force, police, civil defense, fire service, health and transport departments and critical infrastructure agencies.
A seminar will be held at Manekshaw Center in Delhi on Tuesday in which central ministries, armed forces, IMD, CWC, NCS, DRDO, Railways, DMRC, civil aviation, civil defense, technical institutions and civil society organizations will participate.
Hasnain said, “On Wednesday, there will be scenario-based syndicate discussions between state, district and regional stakeholders. After scenario-based discussions, all the participating agencies will try to adopt the best practices emerging from such discussions.”
He said the NDMA keeps conducting disaster-specific mock drills with different states. “With Uttar Pradesh we conducted a mock drill on floods. Similarly, with Odisha we conducted a mock drill on chemical disaster and with the Kerala government on landslides,” Hasnain said.
According to Hasnain, such mock drills conducted by civil defence forces have been able to minimise enemy threats during Operation Sindoor. “Yes, the mock drills we saw during Operation Sindoor helped foil several enemy infiltration attempts at various locations,” he said.
It is worth noting that following the directions of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), civil defence organisations across the country conducted mock drills during Operation Sindoor.
