By Lamphrang Nongspung
SHILLONG: The newly installed Electronic Air Raid Precautions (EARP) siren has replaced the age old Air Raid Precautions (ARPs) which was used during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 to alert the civilian population of Shillong of impending air raids.
The ARP siren was installed at seven important locations of Shillong city (Madanrting police station, Meghalaya Fire and Emergency Services, Laban Circuit House, Police Reserve, State Central Library, Lumdiengjri and Police Training School, Mawroh) in 1962.
“Since its installation the only time where the ARP siren was used was during the 1971 Indo-Pak. Since then, the ARP siren is operated on a trial basis daily,” Civil Defence and Home Guards Joint Director RR Thangkhiew told The Shillong Times on Wednesday.
He informed that the ARP is being replaced with the newly invented EARP which would allow the operation of the seven odd sirens in the capital city from the control room at the State Central Library.
According to him, the ARP was manually operated from the different locations, which was quite a difficult task.
“Of late, the only ARP siren which was functioning was the one at the State Central Library. Installation of the EARP would mean that the sirens in all the seven locations would be functional again,” Thangkhiew said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Controller of Civil Defence, OT Shangpliang, informed that they would have the test trial of the new sounding siren in all the seven locations in Shillong starting from May 29 to 31.
He also stated that the EARP equipments which have been installed have been developed by IIT, Bangalore while BSNL is implementing the project.
“The scheme envisages a 50:50 sharing of expenditure between the State Government and the Centre,” informed Thangkhiew.
Replying to a query, he said they are operating the siren on a daily basis once at 10 am and again at 5 pm as per the directive of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
“The reason for operating the sirens on a daily basis is to ensure that the system remains functional should an emergency arise,” Thangkhiew said.
When asked why the trial was conducted during office hours, he said that the State Government had agreed to allow them to operate the siren during office hours.
Many of the practices and ideals set forth by the ARP lived on beyond the War era through Civil Defence during the Cold War and still exist today in civilian organizations in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Notably, ARP was an organization in the United Kingdom set up as an aid in the prelude to the Second World War dedicated to the protection of civilians from the dangers of air raids.
It was created in 1924 as a response to fears about the growing threat from the development of bomber aircraft.