LAHORE, May 24: The Civil Defence Organization will test its 60 sirens in the provincial metropolis twice on Saturday morning, Civil Defence Officer Liaqat Ali Bhatti said on Friday.

He said sirens would be sounded for one minute at 10.10am for an air raid warning and at 10.25am for the all clear signal. He said Civil Defence sirens were installed at public buildings.

He said Civil Defence sirens were not the only ones for warning the people since all industrial establishments had installed sirens of their own for the purpose.

He said the organization had established a control room at the Nasser Bagh on The Mall for receipt of air raid information from the Pakistan Air Force.

A full dress Civil Defence demonstration would be held at Government Islamia High School, Lahore Cantonment, at 10am also on Saturday. Acting district Nazim Farooq Amjad Mir and district coordination officer Traiq Shafi Chak will be among those present on the occasion.

Mr Bhatti said his organization required at least Rs15 million to procure civil defence equipment for the 150 posts proposed to be established at the union councils. A minimum of Rs100,000 he said, were required for every UC post for gas masks, uniforms and fire fighting and rescue equipment for at least 100 volunteers.

He said the organization awaited the transfer of Rs5 million out of the Rs20 million promised by district Nazim Amer Mahmood earlier this year. Acting Nazim Farooq Amjad Mir ordered immediate release of the amount on Wednesday. He also ordered procurement of 2,200 uniforms in a week. He said the city needed at least at least 3,000 civil defence posts and 50,000 volunteers.

District Nazim Amer Mahmood, who is also the chief warden of the Lahore Civil Defence Organisation, had told a meeting of union council Nazims at Jinnah Hall early this year that 8,000 of the 9,000 civil defence volunteers had left the organization due to years of neglect.