Mock drill passes test in Ponda

MARCEL, MARCH 3
As part of disaster management programme, Ponda district administration on Thursday conducted a mock drill at IDC Kundaim.
The mock drill started at 10.15 am and concluded at about 12 noon.
“It was a total surprise drill to check the preparedness of all emergency services and also to rectify any shortcomings,” said incident commander and Ponda Deputy Collector Jayant Tari.
Tari said that such an activity was conducted for the first time in Ponda taluka.
“In Ponda taluka, there are two Most Accident Hazardous (MAH) units, one located at Kundaim IDC and other at Usgao. We conducted this drill at Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Kundaim,” said Tari.
During the drill, vehicular traffic from Banastarim Bridge to Farmagudi fort was stopped for about an hour.
“All the departments acted swiftly, however some shortcomings which were identified after the drive will be rectified. We successfully evacuated around 370 workers from and around HPCL units. About 70 villagers were also evacuated from the nearest village to IDC Bhoma at the Tapobhumi-Kundaim,” added Tari.
“We also had medical teams attending to the patients. Some patients were shifted to PHC’s and some to GMC Hospital,” said the deputy collector.
Entire drill activity was monitored by the incident commandant at the incident commandant post at makeshift arrangement in the IDC.
“From here, we monitored every activity from evacuation to final stage. There were two telephone sets, one mobile phone and a walky-talky to communicate. After the drill, we had de-briefing where observer identified some shortcomings which needs to be looked into,” said Tari.