NDMA conducts mock exercises ahead of SANJY-2023 via Baltal axis

Safety of every yatri must be first preference: Member Secretary NDMA

GANDERBAL, June 24: To assess the overall preparedness and response measures taken at critical sites to deal with any untoward incident during Yatra, a Mock Drill was conducted by National Disaster Management Authority and District Disaster Management Authorities and all the concerned Govt and private agencies from Baltal axis to deal with any eventuality during the 2-month long Amarnath pilgrimage.

Member Secretary NDMA, Kamal Kishore, Brig. B.S Thakar from NDMA;  Camp Director Baltal, Ghan Shyam Singh and ADC Ganderbal, Mehraj-ud-Din Shah conducted the Mock exercise on the Baltal route covering both natural as well as man-made disasters.

The exercise was conducted to assess the overall preparedness and response measures taken at critical sites to deal with any untoward incident on the Baltal route of Shri Amarnath Ji Yatra.

NDMA experts trained the participants on key aspects of disaster management such as the formation of Incident Response Teams, coordination among various participating agencies, evacuation, medical preparedness and trauma counselling.

After the drills, post-exercise analysis was carried out by the NDMA experts where they discussed the entire operation and underlined areas that needed improvement.

Kamal Kishore, Member Secretary NDMA while speaking on the occasion said that purpose of holding day-long mock exercise was to take stock of preparations for the Shri amarnathji Yatra 2023 and to take all different scenario of disaster and prepare and avoid all possible such disasters to ensure safety of every yatri which is the first most preference and efforts are being put together by everyone, he added.

He also showed his satisfaction over the preparations made by different Agencies including SASB, District Administration, Police, Information department, medical and other security agencies particularly 3 sector RR, 5 Sikh Li and 120 Engineer Regiment besides efforts and coordination between different stakeholders is also impressive, he added.

 Among others, the mock drill was also attended by other officers/officials from NDRF, SDRF, Rashtriya Rifles, CRPF, Army, Police, Health Department, Civil Defence, Transport, Fire & Emergency Services and other emergency services.