Mock drill for Delhi Metro today, when is a secret

New Delhi: People travelling on the Delhi Metro on Saturday may face inconvenience in certain areas as a major mock drill involving 12 stations across the city will be conducted to check disaster preparedness.

The drill, which is expected to affect metro operations on all lines for less than an hour, is being conducted by Delhi Disaster Management Authority in collaboration with National Disaster Management Authority.

Mock incidents like bomb blast, strong earthquakes and terrorist strikes would be enacted to check the response mechanism, Delhi Government's Divisional Commissioner Vijay Dev told reporters.

The timing of the mock drill has been kept secret with a view to actually check preparedness. As in a similar exercise in February, PCR vans had come to the spots before start of the drill as the time was disclosed beforehand.

The metro stations where the drill will be conducted are: Dwarka Sector 11, Central Secretariat, Pitampura, Azadpur, Badarpur, Kirti Nagar, Chandni Chowk, Akshardham, Shahdara, Central, Karol Bagh, Noida City Centre and Guru Dronacharya.

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Mr Dev said the drill is being conducted as part of efforts to put in place an integrated disaster management system in the city. "Delhi metro is the life line of NCR and certain metro stations in Gurgaon and Noida have also been included in this mock drill," he said.

"The mega mock drill conducted in February was huge. It created a good wave of awareness in citizens about vulnerability of Delhi to disasters. The exercise was useful in calibrating response system," Mr Dev said.

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Mr Dev said in future drills, the name of metro stations and even day of the exercise will not be made known to check effectiveness of the response mechanism.

"Next time we will not disclose the metro stations or the day of the drill also. Eventually we are trying to move to a real life situation as disaster often comes unannounced," Mr Dev said.

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Metro stations in East District were exempted on request of Delhi's Chief Election Commissioner as a mock trial of EVM was being conducted there.

Another mock drill to find out the medical preparedness of the city in case of a disaster will be carried in Delhi from first week of August to first week of December. The exercise will involve all nine revenue districts.

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Termed as DEMEX (Delhi Emergency Management Exercise), the mock drill will check the response of all hospitals, including government and private facilities, as well as ambulances and paramedic staff to any form of disaster.

The disaster management plan of all the hospitals will be prepared earmarking the bed allocated for disaster situation so that proper attention is given to those injured in the time of disaster and precious lives can be saved.

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NDMA has roped in international staff for this drill.

"Disaster cannot be avoided, but medical preparedness can save a lot of lives," Mr Dev said. The report prepared as a result of the mock drill would point out gaps in the preparedness, he said. Officials said currently Delhi Government has only 25 ambulances.

A media campaign would be organised to ensure large scale participation of citizens in the drill.

"We will organise three preparatory mock drills. Three districts of Delhi would participate on a specific date in each preparatory mock drill. The exercise would culminate with a Delhi wide mock drill, in which all nine districts would participate together. The results of the drill will be scrutinised by the Army.

"We wanted an independent probe into the findings of the drill. That is why it is decided that Army will scrutinise the findings," Mr Dev said.