Learning to live with the bomb

Learning to live with the bomb

Is the country's capital prepared for a nuclear bomb? A war plan book lists a slew of proposals on what the government of the day should do in the event of a nuclear attack. KOTA NEELIMA reports

New Delhi is dusting the blueprints and pulling out all its plans to face the worst-case scenario, a nuclear first or second use by an enemy country. For starters, those running for their lives from the mushroom cloud could well dive into the underground stations of the proposed Delhi Metro, the first phase of which is to be completed in 2005.

Delhi's War Plan Book drawn up by the Centre and the Delhi Government had proposed a series of steps to deal with a possible nuclear attack on the Capital, one of which was the building of nuclear shelters. The war book had recommended that as part of the war-preparedness, ``shelters are to be provided in Delhi against any nuclear, biological, chemical or other missile attack.''

``All over the world, underground metro stations are built keeping in mind their use as bunkers,'' said Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. ``In Delhi as well, the same technology would be used in building these shelters. We have not yet decided on which country to import the technology for these bunkers from.''

``The first phase of the metro rail is mostly elevated and has only 10 underground stations. While the specifications for the stations to double up as bunkers have not yet been given, we plan to upgrade the phases whenever we can,'' she added.

The plan has undergone two revisions since Pokharan, and Delhi is viewed as among the first targets of a nuclear attack on India. ``From the point of view of vulnerability, the national capital territory of Delhi has been classified as an Category I town. Therefore, it is likely to be the target of any attack in the event of war,'' Chapter 4 of the War Book states.

Inside Delhi, the targets during an air raid are the three airports, two major railway stations, electric power stations, high power transmitting and receiving stations, installations of overseas communication services and important industrial undertakings that are situated close to civilian set-ups.

There is also a recommendation to prepare another city as an alternate capital. ``In case the problem (of a siege through a serial attack) becomes very serious, it may have to be decided as to where the alternative Capital of India is to be located,'' the war plan says.

``This decision will be taken by the Government of India and the same will be communicated to the Delhi Government. The Ministry of Home Affairs will take such steps to coordinate the work of Defence Ministry/State Government/Administration of the Union Territories and will also consult the Delhi Government, so that the shifting is done smoothly and there is no danger, risk or pilferage of the Government records.''

All of Delhi and contiguous areas in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana would have to switch off lights in case of an air raid. These towns fall within a radius of 35 to 40 miles from Delhi and include Ghaziabad, Hindon, Meerut, Bulandshahar and Modinagar in UP, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Sonepat and Rohtak in Haryana. ``The standard to be achieved is that no light is visible at a height of 5,000 feet above the grounds level under the normal visibility conditions,'' the plan says.

For the government, the two major problems would be the safety of VIPs and identification of the dead. According to the plan, there would be an elaborate procedure for identifying the dead, based on their religion. The plan says, ``The Delhi Police commissioner will arrange to supply identification discs (with abbreviations) to Municipal Corporation of Delhi, New Delhi Municipal Corporation and Delhi Cantonment Board as the case may be to facilitate identification.'' The abbreviation B would be used for Buddhists, H for Hindus, J for Jews, P for Parsis, C for Christians, S for Sikhs and M for Muslims.

``The Police Commissioner will arrange to hand over the dead bodies laimed by private persons. The unclaimed bodies will be disposed of by the Corpse Disposal Organisation. Since these will be unnatural deaths, therefore, orders of the Executive Magistrate will be taken for disposing the bodies. The dead bodies, not ordinarily decomposed, will be numbered and photographed.''

The other important issue would be that of evacuation, mostly of VIPs of the Capital, including the President, the Prime Minister, senior cabinet ministers, senior Opposition leaders and high officials of the armed forces and the bureaucracy.

The civilian population would be discouraged from leaving the city. These, however, do not include the families of the bureaucracy. ``All government servants would, however, be advised to the point of time when it would be desirable for them, for more efficient discharge of their duties in an emergency, to move away their families.'' But the families would not be ``entitled to any special facilities or privileges which are not admissible to the general public.''

Delhi's high-rises also face the danger of being pulled down after an emeny attack. `Heavy rescue', according to the plan, would be done by the Public Works Department of Delhi Government which would include ``demolition or temporary shorting of buildings which are likely to collapse endangering human lives or obstructing the traffic.''

While saying that businesses should not be affected, the book also points out, ``During an emergency, the business community is known to indulge in hoarding, profiteering and black-marketing in the essential/ non-essential commodities which cause discontent and anti-national feelings amongst people.'' Besides the Food and Supplies Commissioner, the Commissioner of Police will create a special enforcement cell which will gather information on hoarding and black-marketing.

A special Finance Commission for War Purposes will implement tax collections, credit to the banks, mass purchases, defence funds and other equipment like purchase of civil supplies. No new works will be sanctioned, there'll be no new projects for removal of slums, no new acquisition of land, no beautification work.

A Delhi Civil Defence Committee will be formed to advise the chairperson of the War Purposes Committee on civil defence issues. The committee will be chaired by the Delhi Chief Minister, and its members would include the Delhi Chief Secretary, prinicipal secretaries of finance and home; commissioners of police, transport and the director of health services.

The Director, Civil Defence, would be asked to take care of press, publicity and propaganda. The Civil Defence would also take care of lighting restrictions during air raids, aid for movement in darkness, detection, reporting and disposal of unexploded bombs and crashed aircraft.