Fifty years after the Air Raid Precautions sirens were installed here, Meghalaya government has replaced them with electronic sirens.
The new Electronic Air Raid Precautions (EARP) sirens were installed in seven strategic locations in the capital, but those would be operated from a single control room, Civil Defence and Home Guards Jt Director R R Thangkhiew today said.
Since its installation in the capital in 1962, the manually operated sirens were only used for war time in 1971 during the Bangladesh liberation war, he said.
Of all, he said, now only one was functional which was used by the government twice daily at 10 am and 5 pm during the opening and closing of office hours in the state.
Following the union home ministry's directive to test run the sirens on a daily basis to ensure that the system remains functional should an emergency arise, he said, the state government had decided that they would be blown twice during office hours.
The test operation of the installed sirens was conducted from May 24 till today, he said.
