Swift and ready: Mumbai clears mock drill in 3 minutes

MUMBAI: A fire in a building caused by an ‘air strike’ at Cross Maidan in South Mumbai saw civil defence volunteers, including NCC cadets, NDRF and NSS cadets converging at the site, cordoning off the area and evacuating people. Fire tenders and ambulances, sirens blazing, arrived in minutes. With speed and precision, fire fighters ‘rescued’ an individual ‘stranded’ on the fifth floor of the burning building.

Conducted at 4pm, this mock drill was part of Operation Abhyas (Operation Exercise), a nation-wide exercise to assess citizens’ preparedness in the event of a war or war-like situation. Mock drills have been ordered across the country by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in light of escalating tensions between India and Pakistan following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. Similar drills were last conducted 54 years ago, during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

On Wednesday, Mumbai was put to the test, with a mix of air-raid sirens, evacuation simulations, injury response exercises and blackouts. These will continue for the next five days, said Maharashtra’s director of civil defence, Prabhat Kumar.

“We tracked everyone’s response time, and it was satisfactory as per the situation. The average time was around three minutes, but this was a planned drill and not a spontaneous one,” added Kumar. “The rain felt like a natural hurdle, which only made the drill better as it would prepare everyone for real-life situations.”

Unlike soldiers who are trained in active combat, he added, these exercises are meant to empower and train citizens to tackle emergency situations or any man-made emergency to minimise the loss of lives.

At Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), commuters were shown how to quickly drop to the ground and lie down, to minimise the risk to themselves. The drill, which took place at around 3pm, saw 30 personnel from the Civil Defence Organisation of the Central Railway take part, accompanied by air-raid sirens.

They demonstrated how civilians should respond, as a precautionary measure. An ‘injured’ person was lifted and transported sans a stretcher. A few feet away, another ‘emergency’ scenario was unfolding. Trained personnel demonstrated how to manage severe blood loss and other life-saving techniques to minimise haemorrhaging.

Volunteers also showed civilians what to do in a fire emergency, when no fire extinguisher is present. They also demonstrated how to operate a fire extinguisher, so that everyone from railway staff to passengers would know how to use them, if the need arose.

K K Mishra, Deputy General Manager of the Central Railway, and Dr Swapnil Nila, Chief Public Relations Officer, were present to oversee the proceedings.

Similar drills were conducted at other important railway stations and workshops on the Central Railway network, including Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Dadar, Matunga, Manmad, and other key locations.

At Bandra Railway Colony, around 150 residents assembled outside their buildings to the sound of a siren at 11am. Four buildings were evacuated, with residents briefed by civil defence volunteers regarding precautions to be taken during an air strike, steps to protect oneself and family, along with a live demonstration on how to take cover during bombings.

Around 650 railway staff at the Lower Parel workshop were instructed on how to tend to the injured and shift them to safer places.

Further away, at Kalyan, a large-scale mock drill was conducted at Maxxi Ground under the guidance of the Thane District Collector and Civil Defence Controller, Ashok Shingare, at 4pm. The simulated event was an air strike on Jai Ganesh Society, resulting in 14 ‘injuries’ and one ‘fatality’.

Four sirens sounded simultaneously across Kalyan and surrounding areas, simulating an air/bomb attack. Citizens were swiftly directed to safe zones, and ‘rescue operations’ commenced, including search missions, evacuation of injured and trapped civilians, and the provision of first aid.

A total of 26 agencies participated in this massive exercise, including Civil Defence, revenue and police departments, Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation, Thane Disaster Response Force (TDRF), Fire Brigade, Home Guards, and national Service Scheme. More than 100 police officers, 15 TDRF personnel, 25 disaster volunteers, and 14 NCC cadets were involved.

Bringing Operation Abhyas to a close on Wednesday was a blackout at 8pm in Anushakti Nagar in Govandi and the Atomic Colony in Tarapur.