UP Civil Defence dept to have units in 9 more districts

The Uttar Pradesh Civil Defence department is set to expand its footprint in nine more districts of the state, a senior official said on Monday.

At present, there are civil defence units in 15 districts of UP, with the addition of new units in nine more districts all the divisional headquarters and municipal corporations in the state will be covered, said Principal Secretary, Civil Defence, Rajan Shukla said.

He said the nine districts where civil defence units will come up are, Aligarh, Mirzapur, Banda, Basti, Azamgarh, Firozabad, Gonda, Ayodhya and Farrukhabad.

During the recent protests in the state against the new citizenship law, civil defence volunteers assisted their respective district administration in ensuring that rumours are not spread, Shukla said.

He said the volunteers were given the responsibility to disseminate correct information on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act by distributing handouts to people.

During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, civil defence volunteers were roped in for voter education and electoral participation activities in various districts of the state. "Our volunteers contacted 'Divyaang' voters, and helped them exercise their franchise on the polling day," Shukla said.

The role of civil defence volunteers is "very important", as they generally get the first information whenever any accident or disaster takes place, the officer said.

At present there are 1,08,878 civil defence volunteers in the state, Shukla said.