Wednesday, 24 APRIL 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA) have stepped up preparations for the smooth conduct of the Char Dham Yatra slated to start next month. An orientation and coordination conference was held on Tuesday regarding the table top exercise proposed by NDMA on April 30 and the mock exercise proposed on May 2. This online conference was attended by district magistrates of the districts on the Yatra route, army ITBP and more than 200 officers of 28 departments.
NDMA senior consultant major general (retd) Sudhir Bahl issued necessary instructions and spoke about the aim of the table top exercise and mock exercise to be held later. He said that the Disaster Management department, district administration, Indian Army, ITBP, police, Central Armed Police Forces, Public Works Department, Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam, Forest department, Tourism department, Information and Public Relations department and other bodies have an important role in ensuring the successful conduct of the Char Dham Yatra. The table top exercise and mock exercise are being held to enable better coordination among the departments. The exercise will be held in all the districts on the Yatra route. The mock exercise will be held to check the preparations of various departments to carry out rescue and relief operations during situations like inclement weather, flood and landslide, earthquake, fire, avalanche, snowfall, heavy rain, helicopter and road accidents, stampede and other disaster scenarios. Any technical or other problem faced will be resolved during the exercise so that there are no gaps during the Yatra, he said. Bahl further said that this exercise will make it easy to understand the management of search and rescue at various levels, status of health facilities, deployment of army and police personnel, weather monitoring and warning, condition of relief camps, crowd and traffic management, the actual status of communication resources and the level of coordination among various departments.
