Mock drills to test Assam's crisis readiness today

Guwahati: Along with rest of the country, an extensive civil defence and exercise rehearsal will be conducted across Assam's categorised ‘civil defence districts' on Wednesday following central govt directives.

Assam chief secretary presided over a high-level meeting with various agencies and stakeholder departments and evaluated drill preparedness according to central govt guidelines, and instructions were issued to 14 districts for conducting the exercise as prescribed.

The mock drill is scheduled to commence at 4 pm and will proceed until all steps are completed, though specific details were not disclosed.

The mock drill planned up to the village level aims to assess and enhance the readiness of civil defence mechanisms across the state.

According to the director general fire service, civil defence and home guards under ministry of home affairs letter sent to chief secretaries of all states and administrators of all UTs, the mock drill will assess the effectiveness of air raid warning systems and to operationalization of hotline communication links with IAF.

The mock drills are also aimed to test the functionality of control rooms and shadow control rooms, training of civilians, students, on the civil defence aspects to protect themselves in the event of hostile attack.

There will also be provision of crash black out measures, early camouflaging of vital plants and installations besides verifying the activation and response of civil defence services, including warden services, firefighting, rescue operations, and depot management.

The Assam Police's Home Guard and Civil Defence wing will coordinate operations alongside other agencies, which include fire services, health department, disaster management, BSNL, DIPR and other agencies. The Indian Army is expected to participate, with exercises planned for Guwahati as well.

An official said Fire and Emergency Services headquarters has distributed specific guidelines to district centres regarding the drill.

The communication directs all F&ES Station leaders to coordinate with district controllers, authorities, and civil defence wardens/volunteers to ensure smooth execution of the drill, with submission of detailed reports afterwards.

The ministry of home affairs has instructed all states to conduct these drills due to "new and complex threats" amid escalating tensions with Pakistan following the Pahalgam incident.

State authorities must involve students, govt and private employees, hospital staff, railway and metro officials, along with police, paramilitary and defence personnel in these exercises.