The season of Chardham Yatra is about to knock and this time the government is in no mood to be careless. On the instructions of the Home Ministry, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA) have started preparations to deal with any emergency on the travel routes. In this connection, a mock drill will be organized simultaneously in seven districts on April 10.
An orientation and coordination conference was held at USDMA on Thursday, in which officials of all the districts and representatives of various departments associated with the Chardham Yatra sat at one table. In the meeting, Secretary Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Vinod Kumar Suman and Senior Consultant of NDMA Major General Sudhir Bahl (APR) presented the outline and necessary guidelines of the mock drill.
Exercise will be held simultaneously in seven districts
Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman said that Chardham Yatra is not just a religious event for Uttarakhand, but is also a question of the credibility of the state. On the instructions of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, all the departments have intensified preparations and the Disaster Management Department is on full alert mode.
He told that this mock drill will be held simultaneously in seven districts of Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Haridwar, Tehri, Pauri and Dehradun. The entire exercise will be conducted from the State Emergency Operations Center located at USDMA.
irs Drilling will take place under, There will be examination for every department
Major General Sudhir Bahal said that this entire exercise will run on the framework of IRS i.e. Incident Response System. Under this, different roles of Incident Response Team, Implementation Branch, Planning Branch and Resource Branch will be decided. From the incident commander to the nodal officer, everyone should know what to do first when a disaster strikes.
In the mock drill, it will also be seen with what speed and coordination the local administration, PWD, police, health and transport departments can work with the Air Force, Army, ITBP, NDRF and Paramilitary Forces if needed.
From earthquake to stampede – every scenario will be tested
This time the mock drill will not be a ritual. road accident, helicopter crash, EarthquakeThe reaction of different departments will be examined on all the dangerous scenarios like fire in hotel or Dharamshala, stampede at Dham, flood, landslide, avalanche, lightning and falling of stones from the hill.
Emphasis on resource and risk mapping
Major General Bahl said an important thing that just having resources is not enough, one should also know where those resources are and in how much time will they reach there. He said that GIS mapping of risk areas on the travel route is necessary so that every minute is not wasted in case of any disaster.
He also expressed the need to fully assess the capacity of hotels and dharamshalas, so that in case of road closure or bad weather, the passengers can be accommodated safely. passengers on time Season It was also asked to ensure arrangements for giving information about alerts, road conditions and landslide prone areas.
Another important suggestion came that satellite based communication system should be considered on the travel route where mobile network does not reach.