RAWALPINDI, Jan 1: The Civil Defence Organization (CDO) on Tuesday conducted a civil defence drill at its office here at the district courts premises.

The exercise involved the Rescue-15 personnel, Bomb Disposal Squad, firefighters and volunteers. Ambulances were used to practise shifting the seriously injured people from congested areas to hospital. As many as 50 volunteers participated in the demonstration.

Civil defence volunteers have been holding similar demonstrations in various parts of the city since December 23 to prepare for emergencies in case of a war between India and Pakistan.

The CDO is in a poor shape these days. The organization has about 400 active volunteers at its disposal. However, more volunteers are being recruited and trained.

No wages are paid to these volunteers, who even have to arrange the uniforms on their own.

The organization is ill-equipped to deal with the awesome task it is supposed to perform. It has no fire-fighting equipment or vehicles of its own. It uses the poorly equipped water-tankers and the few fire-fighters available with various municipal bodies.

However, even the municipal bodies in Rawalpindi city and cantonment lack the equipment and the manpower to fight fires.

Over the years, attention has been drawn to the poor state of affairs in the fire-fighting departments of the now defunct Rawalpindi Municipal corporation (RMC) and the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB). However, no remedial measures have been introduced by the concerned authorities.

The Bomb Disposal Squad of the CDO is in a poor shape and does not have the adequate vehicles to make it to a site of firing incident on time. It does not have the necessary bomb disposal equipment either.

During the last two to three years, more than 12 blasts took place in Rawalpindi. However, the authorities failed to sanction the purchase of proper bomb disposal equipment for the CDO.

The organization has no X-Ray machines, not even blankets for its personnel. There is an acute shortage of water-guns at the department.

It may also be noted here that neither the Rawalpindi municipal authorities nor the RCB has ever provided fire hydrants on city roads to deal with emergencies.