Heard sirens go at 11 am?
THE SIRENS to prompt silence at 11.00 a.m. (on Martyrs Day January 30), went unheard in the city. Those who were able to observe silence were not depending on the hoot. Residents complained that they were not able to hear the siren at 11.00 am.
THE SIRENS to prompt silence at 11.00 a.m. (on Martyrs Day January 30), went unheard in the city.
Those who were able to observe silence were not depending on the hoot.
Residents complained that they were not able to hear the siren at 11.00 am.
The district administration tried its best to implement the home ministry order, which called for traffic halt on roads, rail tracks, airports, sea interruption of radio bulletins for two minutes at 11.00 am on January 30 to observe the Martyrs’ Day.
Students of various schools like City Montessori, SKD Academy, Central Academy, St Joseph and others observed the two minutes silence on the occasion, but they went by their clock and didn’t wait for the sirens. Even the cinema halls of the city stopped the show for two minutes, but again they went by their clock. Manager of Wave multiplex Dheeraj said “Yes we held the shows up at 11.00 am .We requested everyone present to stand up and observe two minutes silence in the memory of great martyrs.”
In the absence of any warning system, the city traffic continued unabated without any fuss at 11.00 am. Most of the people could not hear the sirens go.
According to deputy chief warden civil defense KK Dubey, sirens at District collectorate, GPO park, Vidhan Sabha, Mal Avenue, Munshipulia, Gomti Nagar Police Station, Sarojini Naidu Marg, Akbari Gate, Kursi Road, Shaheed Smarak, Alambagh, High Court, Krishna Nagar Polytechnic, Hussainganj Power Station, Nishatganj Police Station and Madhur Milan Guest House Rajajipuram were blown at 10.59 a.m.
However, Mukul Sachdeva a student said, “There was no sound sirens at 11.00 a.m. We observed silence.”
Sirens silent, why?
In fact, majority of sirens are lying redundant for last 10 years. Most of them are outdated old pieces just fit for the scrape-yard. Out of 18 electric sirens in the city, only 4 are officially operational. The officials of civil defense admitted that only four sirens placed at Lucknow Polytechnic Krishna Nagar, Hussainganj Power Station, Nishatganj Police Station and Madhur Milan Guest House Rajajipuram are presently functional. While rest of them placed at Police Station Kashmiri Mohalla, Police Station Bazar Khala, Police Station Hazratganj,Police Station Chowk, Police Station Alambagh, Police Station Sadatganj, Bawli Police Chowki, Kaiserbagh Police Station, Hasanganj Police Station, Police Station Aminabad, Police Lines, Thakurganj Police Station, ITI Aliganj and Bakshi Ka Talab are lying redundant. The officials confirm these sirens are outdated and city requires modern early warning system.
What if?
On the condition of anonymity a district administration official said, “We are lucky that this was Gandhi Jayanti but what if it’s a war. We don’t have any public warning system. Our warning equipment is all defunct. Last year during curfew in the old city areas, we used sirens fitted in police jeeps to inform the locals about the curfew timings.”
Deputy controller civil defense SC Mishra said, “There is a possibility of people not hearing the sirens as the city has expanded by leaps and bound.
Only four out of 18 electric sirens are in a working condition.
Most of them were placed in mid-sixties and 1971 after Pak war. In last 35 years our population has doubled number of vehicles in the city has increased many folds, so sound pollution has increased. Sometimes sound of sirens get lost in them. We have applied for the financial aid from the government to add more sirens in the city and develop a modern warning system for the residents”.
Former Chief warden Civil defense Chander Prakash said, “We proposed a plan of upgrading warning system in the city after the Kargil war, the then DG Civil Defense , local administration send it to the government. Even a team from Bangalore visited the city to prepare a software for setting up of simultaneous broadcasting system which would have made the operation of these sirens possible from one place by just pushing of a switch.
The range of present electric sirens is just 1.5 kilometers, while the hand operated sirens have even lesser range.”
Deputy chief warden civil defense KK Dubey said, “We have send proposal to the government for the repair of these sirens besides the proposal of setting up of modern warning system.”