BALTAL, JUNE 23: 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 Department of Disaster Management in collaboration with National Disaster Management Authority and District Disaster Management Authorities and all the concerned Govt and private agencies from Sonamarg to Holy Cave. Nazim Zai Khan, Secretary to Govt, DMRRR, Shyambir, Deputy Commissioner, Ganderbal, Farooq Ahmad Baba, ADC participated during the Mock Drill at Baltal. Major General V K Naik, Brigadier BK Thakar from NDMA conducted the Mock exercise on the Baltal, Sonamarg route covering both natural as well as man-made disasters. 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 analyses were carried out by the NDMA experts in which they discussed the entire operation and underlined areas that needed improvement.Among others the mock drill was attended by other officers/officials from National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Rashtriya Rifles, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Army, Police, Health Department, Civil Defence, Transport, Fire & Emergency Services and other emergency services.
