No plans to roll back mock drills, special powers for civil defence

Even as India and Pakistan reached a ceasefire on May 10 after four days of hostilities, there are no immediate plans to roll down special procurement powers given to civil defence authorities or the infrastructure set up to deal with war-like situations across the country, highly placed sources told The Tribune.

The sources said there were no immediate plans to roll back mock drills either. Conducted on May 7, mock drills were likely to be held in future as well according to the requirement.

On May 9 during Operation Sindoor, the Centre asked all states to give emergency procurement power to the heads of the civil defence authorities so that they can make the required purchases in case of an emergency situation. The sources said these directions would remain in place for now.

In a communication to chief secretaries of all states and union territories, Director General of Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guards Vivek Srivastava had asked the civil administration to adopt precautionary measures against hostile attacks in the states.

Citing the hostile scenario, the attention of chief secretaries was drawn to Section 11 of the Civil Defence Rules, 1968, which empowers the states to take certain measures deemed necessary for the protection of people and properties from injury or damage or for ensuring the due maintenance of vital services in the event of a hostile attack.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)-administered mock drills were conducted in 244 vulnerable or civil defence districts, including those situated in border states such as Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat as well as the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) on May 7.

Although the MHA had announced that mock drills would be conducted on May 7, India had launched its offensive against terror camps in PoK and Pakistan under Operation Sindoor during the wee hours on the same day.

The aim behind the entire exercise was to check whether the paraphernalia or infrastructure related to dealing with situations like an armed conflict or a natural disaster was in working.

Besides, it was discussed whether any vacancies in the 12 services enlisted under the ambit of civil defence needed to be filled with permanent posts.

Since the mock drills were conducted at the village level, it was also assessed whether sarpanches and other resourceful persons like doctors, who were included as wardens for the exercise, were adequate in number.

India