Thane, April 4 The administration in Thane district of Maharashtra has launched a two-week-long disaster preparedness exercise in collaboration with national and state response forces to strengthen emergency response mechanisms, officials said on Saturday.
The 'Familiarisation Exercise Programme', conducted from April 1 to April 15, aims to improve coordination and response capabilities during natural and man-made disasters, an official release stated.
Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Force are involved in the exercise.
"A total of 25 trained personnel, including senior officers, have been deployed in the district to conduct hands-on training and familiarisation sessions across urban and rural areas," the release said.
The exercise focuses on equipping local administrative staff and first responders with practical skills in rescue operations, inter-agency coordination, and the use of specialized disaster-response equipment.
Officials, including subdivisional officers and tehsildars, along with civil defence personnel, police patils, and community volunteers such as 'Aapda Mitra' and 'Aapda Sakhi', are participating in the training sessions.
Around 200 participants are being trained at multiple locations, including civic bodies and tehsil offices in Navi Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli, Ulhasnagar, Mira-Bhayander, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Shahapur, Murbad, and Ambernath.