How Operation Sindoor prompted air raid siren revamp in Mumbai and beyond

Air raid sirens, which once acted as sentinels of Mumbai and its surroundings, are set to be revived in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, India's military response to Pakistan after the terror attack in Pahalgam last month.The state has 492 air raid siren points in all—311 in Mumbai, 85 in Pune, 33 in Nashik, 21 in Tarapur, 16 in Raigad and 26 in Thane. These were installed in phases after the 1962 India-China war, as per central government guidelines, and came in handy for sounding air raid warnings during the wars with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971. Even later, the sirens would be sounded at 9 am every day.advertisementMany of these public sirens, including some in Mumbai, are now dysfunctional. The centrally-operated system gradually went into oblivion after 2004 due to technological obsolescence. The torrential rain-triggered flooding of the Mumbai region in 2005 also damaged some underground cables that connected these sirens. The last time the air raid sirens were sounded was in July 2006 to pay tributes to the victims of serial bomb blasts in suburban trains in Mumbai.The technological obsolescence has meant each siren is to be operated manually, and the decentralised nature of these operations made it difficult for government agencies to verify if these civil defence sirens, especially those in non-governmental premises, were working. However, some sirens installed on government buildings such as Cross Maidan and the Directorate office at Kalaghoda are tested regularly.advertisement
On May 7, the union home ministry had issued an advisory to all states and Union territories for undertaking mock drills. This included the operationalisation of air raid sirens. Sources said that only 50 to 60 sirens in Mumbai were found to be working, and of the 492 sirens in the state, around 50 per cent were functional.These sirens are now being revived as part of efforts to sound emergency alerts and prepare for a war-like scenario in the future. Yogesh Kadam, Maharashtra minister of state for home, told INDIA TODAY that the government had sought a proposal from the Directorate of Civil Defence for upgrade of these sirens. 'This is an old system and we will upgrade it,' he said.Prabhat Kumar, director general of police and director of civil defence, Maharashtra, said they were working on reviving and strengthening the existing sirens in Mumbai and the coastal districts of Palghar, Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg. Newer sirens were also being installed in the legacy network.'On the instructions of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, the state government has provided funds as per the provisions of the Civil Defence Act, 1968, and Disaster Management Act, 2005 We will have a minimum of 100 sirens in good condition in Mumbai, and in vital areas like Uran and Tarapur,' said Kumar.advertisementHe stated that procurement of these sirens and their installation were underway. Apart from bolstering the traditional sirens, the directorate is also planning to procure and install a state-of-art system in the future.While Tarapur, located around 130 km from Mumbai in Palghar district, has a nuclear power plant—the Tarapur Atomic Power Station—Uran in Raigad district is located in proximity to sensitive installations such as the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, an Oil and Natural Gas Corporation plant and a gas thermal power station operated by the Maharashtra State Power Generation Company.However, officials said that using air raid sirens came with its own set of challenges in a heavily built-up city like Mumbai, where much had changed since the times these sirens had been originally installed. 'The highrise buildings in Mumbai act as sound barriers for traditional sirens. The glass faade on these buildings does not allow the sound to penetrate deep. The ambient noise in the city is also high,' an official said.The civil defence mechanism has its roots in the 'Air Raid Precaution Committee', which was established in August 1937 in the run-up to World War II. In October 1939, air raid precaution wardens were enrolled for the first time in Bombay. In October 1941, air raid precaution was redesignated as civil defence.advertisementSubscribe to India Today MagazineTune InMust Watch

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