LUCKNOW, May 30 -- Now, all 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh will have civil defence units. The decision comes days after ceasefire between India and Pakistan post April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam in which 26 tourists were gunned down by militants. The state government on Thursday issued a notification expanding ambit of civil defence units from existing 24 districts to all 75 districts.

The government has also directed civil defence units to assist local administration in carrying out other important tasks, including sanitation, pulse polio, campaign against pollution, blood donation and during natural and human-made disasters.

The Union government in 2010 had passed the Civil Defence (Amendment) Act, 2009, to bring calamities within...