MYSURU: While India and Pakistan agreed to cease fire, a civil defence mock drill, ‘Operation Abhyas’, was held on the premises of Mysuru Palace on Saturday for emergency preparedness and to raise public awareness on disaster response.
Around 5.15 pm, sirens were sounded on the palace premises. Palace security personnel Dayanand and Madhu activated the sirens for 10 seconds each six times to alert civilians of an air raid. Within a few minutes, an airplane hovered over the palace building and there were eight blasts at different places, while a temporary shed erected near the Jayamarthanda Gate was set on fire.
As the message was passed on from the palace control room to all departments, 32 personnel from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) from the RBI with AK 47 rifles, personnel from fire service with fire tenders, health staff with ambulances, police with dog and forensic experts and 110 home guards rushed to the spot. While CISF cordoned off the entire area, the health staff shifted the injured to a temporary health facility near Jayarama and Balarama Gates, while fire service personnel doused the fire.
The mock drill was held for nearly an hour which was witnessed by hundreds of tourists who were at the palace to see the illumination.
Emergency preparedness
After successfully conducting the drill, DC G Lakshmikantha Reddy said, “As directed by the home ministry and state government, a mock drill was held for emergency preparedness. We have formed 12 teams with personnel from the police, fire service, health and other departments.
They have been deployed at important installations like Mysuru Palace, RBI, Kabini and Nugu dams. The drill was to convey to citizens that the district administration is prepared to handle any emergency and they should not panic in such situations,” he said.
Mysuru City Police Commissioner Seema Latkar said the mock drill was to show the preparedness and coordination between various departments during emergencies at various vital installations in Mysuru.
“We have increased security at Chamundeshwari Temple atop Chamundi Hills, RBI and other sensitive places and crowded places like Mysuru Palace. Nakabandi has been put in place, security has been increased at sensitive places and we have requested residents to install CCTV cameras in their residential and commercial buildings and they have been tagged to the city police app to monitor and easily detect any suspected movement,” she said.
District Health Officer (DHO) PC Kumaraswamy said they have formed six teams each with a medical officer, two staff nurses and CHOs, and a checklist has been revised to update medical emergency facilities in ambulances.
“During emergencies, the teams will visit places, and tag red, yellow, green and black zones. Treatment will be provided to the injured as per the classification. We have kept eight ambulances ready. We have activated 104 and 108 helplines and taluk health officers have also been assigned to rapid response teams. In all, 58 medical personnel took part in the rehearsal,” he said.