Fire tenders on a hydraulic platform try to douse fire at Shoppers Point in Fancy Bazar.

The hour-long exercise was part of a mock drill carried out by the State Fire Service Organisation in collaboration with police, civil defence, disaster management authority and 108 emergency medical services.

‘The mock drill was organised before Diwali to create awareness among shopkeepers and customers. Besides, the drill was undertaken to gauge how prepared our staff is,’ B. Singha, the deputy director of the State Fire Service Organisation, said. There are two such hydraulic platforms stationed at State Fire Service Stations at Dispur and Panbazar. The platform is 23 metres in length and can douse fire up to the sixth floor. This is for the first time that such a mock drill was carried out in the Fancy Bazar area.

Singha said such an exercise was a must for crowded areas like Fancy Bazar, which is cluttered with shops, malls and highrises. He said the Fancy Bazar area had become thickly populated and most of the highrises in the area had come up without any proper planning. Besides, there are some overhead wires, which make the area all the more disaster-prone.

Text: Manashree Goswami. Picture by UB Photos