Dehradun: In preparation for the upcoming Chardham Yatra, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA) will jointly conduct a large-scale mock drill on April 24. Ahead of the drill, NDMA officials provided crucial guidelines to ensure its effective implementation during an orientation and coordination meeting held on Wednesday. The session saw participation from officials representing all districts involved in the Yatra, as well as personnel from various line departments.
Major General Sudhir Bahl (APRA), Senior Consultant at NDMA, briefed the attendees on the objectives and execution plan of the mock drill. Emphasizing the importance of collaborative effort in disaster response, he said, “Disaster management is not the responsibility of a single individual or department. Every department has a vital role to play.”
The mock drill is designed to test the preparedness and coordination among different agencies under the Incident Response System (IRS), which clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of each department and officer. The exercise aims to bring all stakeholders together on one platform and assess their readiness to respond to various disaster scenarios.
During the drill, personnel from SDRF, NDRF, police, fire services, and other forces will serve as observers. The entire operation will be monitored from the State Emergency Operation Center at USDMA.
The drill will simulate multiple disaster scenarios that could potentially occur during the Chardham Yatra, including:
Road accidents
Helicopter crashes
Earthquakes
Fires in hotels/dharamshalas
Stampedes in Dham areas and on narrow roads
Adverse weather conditions
Floods
Lightning strikes
Landslides
Avalanches
The objective is to evaluate the efficiency of the government’s and administration’s disaster response mechanisms, particularly the coordination between local administration and central agencies such as the Air Force, Army, ITBP, NDRF, and paramilitary forces.
Key officials present at the coordination meeting included Secretary of Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Vinod Kumar Suman, DIG and Additional CEO (Implementation) Rajkumar Negi, Finance Controller Abhishek Kumar Anand, Joint CEO Mohammad Obaidullah Ansari, SP Jaya Baluni, ULMMC Director Shantanu Sarkar, Senior Administrative Officer Rakesh Mohan Khankariyal, as well as representatives from the Army, paramilitary forces, and experts from USDMA, ULMMC, and U Prepare.
