Civil defence control room to come up in city to receive air raid alerts | Bhubaneswar News
Bhubaneswar: State govt has decided to set up an advanced civil defence control room in the city. The control room, which is likely to be inaugurated at Baramunda next month , will receive direct messages from Indian Air Force stations about air raid alerts.Official sources said recent discussions between the IAF station at Salua, West Bengal, and Odisha civil defence directorate officials have taken place to facilitate the arrangement.The govt’s emphasis on strengthening civil defence follows the Centre’s directive to all states to enhance their civil defence readiness, following tensions between India and Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror srike. The govt will acquire new equipment using disaster response funds, sources said.“The Salua Air Force station will communicate to our civil defence control room directly in case of any air raid threat. BSNL is in the process of installing a secured connection for smooth communication between Salua air base and our civil defence control room,” a senior official of the directorate told TOI.Govt authorities are currently finalising the necessary infrastructure and staff requirements.Upon receiving air raid alerts from the IAF, the state-level control room will relay information to districts, mobilising civil defence volunteers. District police control rooms (dial 112) will handle these alerts, as district-level civil defence control rooms are not yet established.In the second week of June, the govt plans to conduct training for civil defence volunteers in psychological warfare and drone attack defence, preparing them for emergency situations. Officials said that NDRF, along with current and former Army personnel, may train civil defence wardens in psychological warfare, including panic management, propaganda identification, rumour control and crowd behaviour.“The training will cover service maintenance, community drills, evacuation procedures, protection against nuclear, biological and chemical threats, stretcher handling, patient transport, emergency rescue, casualty management, debris removal, warning systems and emergency shelter operations,” the senior official said.
