Amid complaints from residents, 40 new sirens to be installed in Surat by next week

As of now, the Surat Municipal Corporation has got 51 sirens installed in its zone office and other areas in the city. According to sources, some of these sirens are old while some don’t even function. On May 7, the Surat administration had carried out a drill at multiple locations to prepare for any untoward incidents. As per the drill plan, “a siren would be sounded in the city at 4:00 pm to alert citizens and create awareness”.

Following the drill, the authorities received several complaints from people in many areas that they “did not hear the sound of sirens”. On Saturday afternoon, Surat District Collector Dr Sourabh Pardhi met with Surat Police Commissioner Anupam Singh Gahlaut and Municipal Commissioner Shalini Agrawal to discuss the complaints received from the local residents.

Sources said during the meeting, Police Commissioner Gahlaut informed that “Surat police will install over 40 new sirens in police stations and the police bhavan”. SMC officials said that they will “map the area” for installing the new sirens.

Gahlaut told The Indian Express, “We will install over 40 sirens in the police stations and the police bhavan so that the people are able to hear the sirens. The work will be done in one week.”

Meanwhile, sources in SMC said that some of the old sirens that are not working will be replaced with newer ones.