Panchkula, May 15 -- Jolted by glaring lapses during the May 7 mock drill, the Panchkula administration is undertaking an aggressive overhaul of its emergency preparedness, increasing the number of air sirens from a mere four to 164 in just one week and fast-tracking the training of 4,000 civil defence volunteers.

The installation of 160 new sirens across Panchkula, including in villages, was confirmed by a senior officer.

The breakdown of installations includes 135 by the administration, 20 by the municipal corporation and five by the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP).

Previously, only four sirens were located at the HMT, Bell Factory, DC office and Kalka railway station.

Apart from the significant expansion of the alert syste...