Telecom disaster mgmt Coordination meeting held

Jammu : Senior Deputy Director General, License Service Area (LSA) J&K RK Dubey Monday chaired the Second meeting of the State Telecom Disaster Coordination Committee here Monday.
Dubey said Government of India has brought out a Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) for responding to Disasters, under which the State Telecom Disaster Coordination Committee has been formed.
The meeting was attended by Director Disaster Management J&K, Aamir Ali, Commandant SDRF 2nd Bn Jammu Rashmi Wazir, Director (T) Dept of Telecommunications, Balvinder Singh, Joint Advisor NDMA, Anurag Rana, Supdt of Police, Telecommunications Sushil Kachroo, Representatives from NDRF and Fire & Emergency Services, besides Nodal Officers and senior representatives from all Telecom Service Providers, including BSNL, Airtel, Reliance Jio, Idea, Vodafone etc.
In the meeting preparedness of all Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) of J&K Circle was reviewed. A power-point presentation on the experiences of September 2014 floods, was also made by the TSPs. All TSPs were directed to ensure that appropriate measures are taken to mitigate and minimize the possible damages to the Telecom network in the event of a disaster and ensure uninterrupted communication network. Director (T) Balvinder Singh informed that in the aftermath of a disaster, the Telecom Services play a pivotal role in undertaking rescue, relief and rehabilitation measures. The role of the Department of Telecommunication is to lead as the primary agency for emergency support function related to the provision of telecommunication services by telecom service providers and coordination with other government agencies.
A Tabletop exercise was conducted by Director Disaster Management, followed by a mock drill by SDRF to demonstrate the preparedness to deal with disasters. Rescue equipment available with SDRF and Fire & Emergency Services were also kept on display.