Mock drills to be carried out nationwide today

Mock drills, as directed by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, are being conducted across the country. The drill will test the efficacy of the operationalisation of air-raid warning signs, crash blackout measures, camouflaging vital installations, evacuation plans, establishing hotline with the Indian Air Force, activating control rooms, firefighting and warden services and undertake cleaning of bunkers and trenches among others. The drill comes in the aftermath of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack where 26 people were killed.

Here’s how the drills will unfold in various States:

Delhi

Authorities in Delhi will carry out mock security drills at 55 locations, including Connaught Place, Khan Market, and Chandni Chowk, to check the preparedness of security agencies. “The drills will be conducted at 4 pm at 55 locations – five in each revenue district. We have held meetings with stakeholders over their conduct,” an official said.

The drills will simulate multiple hostile scenarios like air raids, multiple fire emergencies, and search and rescue operations, among others. Sirens will be sounded by police teams across the 15 police districts in the city as part of the exercise.

The Delhi Directorate of Education (DoE) has directed all school heads to organise training sessions for students and teachers on disaster response and a demonstration video has been shared to help schools understand how to conduct a proper mock drills.

Kerala

Kerala is set to conduct a Statewide civil defence mock drills in all 14 districts as per the direction of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). According to a statement issued by the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA), the mock drill will commence at 4 p.m., and the alert siren will sound 3 times for 30 seconds starting at 4 p.m. The mock drill will be conducted between 4.02 p.m. and 4.29 p.m. in areas where the siren is heard and even in areas where it is not heard.

As per the Centre’s directive, in places where there are no sirens, the announcement systems in places of worship may be considered to alert the public. The siren saying ‘Safe’ will sound for 30 seconds from 4.28 p.m. The sirens will be operated directly by the State Disaster Management Authority.

Telangana

A large-scale civil defence mock drill will be conducted in Hyderabad as part of a nationwide preparedness exercise code-named ‘Operation Abhyaas’. The drill would be conducted from 4.00 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. across the city within the Outer Ring Road (ORR) limits and will involve 12 Civil Defence services including police, fire, rescue, medical, and municipal departments. At 4 p.m., sirens will be activated citywide to simulate the onset of an air raid. These will include industrial sirens, police public address systems, fire engine sirens, and announcements via patrol vehicles. The sirens will sound for two minutes to initiate the mock scenario.

Following the alert, the public is expected to participate by seeking immediate shelter, turning off electrical and gas appliances, and remaining indoors until further instructions. The authorities have urged citizens to follow only official sources for updates and not to circulate or act upon unverified information.

Tamil Nadu

A civil defence exercise and rehearsal in certain vital installations in Tamil Nadu will be held on Wednesday, May 7, following the instructions by the Union Home Ministry. The exercise will be conducted in Madras Atomic Power Station at Kalpakkam and Chennai Port Trust campuses at 4 p.m.

“During this drill, activities will be undertaken in these two vital installations to handle an incoming air raid. The conditions will be simulated to check the preparedness of the systems to handle any kind of emergency,” an official release from the Tamil Nadu government said.

Karnataka

As part of the nationwide civil defence drill – Operation Abhyas – to prepare civilians and officials to react to potential threats, amidst raising tension with Pakistan following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, air raid warnings and reaction drills, will be conducted in Bengaluru, Karwar, Raichur, Mysuru and Mandya districts in the State through the next week.  “In Karnataka, Mallapura (Karwar), Shaktinagara (Raichur) and Bengaluru have been included in Category II civil defence towns,” the statement said. 

The first such drill will be held at Civil Defence Headquarters, Ulsoor, Bengaluru, on Wednesday. All members of Parliament from the city are expected to participate in the drill. In preparation, Civil Defence personnel audited all the 35 air-raid sirens, mostly installed at prominent fire and police stations in Bengaluru on Tuesday, and found that three were malfunctioning. “These sirens can be heard in a radius of 3 km. They indicate high alert and a possible impending air raid that should prompt people to take safe shelter,” a senior official said. 

Maharashtra

A civil defence mock drill will be conducted at 16 locations across 10 districts in Maharashtra, officials said.

More than 10,000 volunteers of civil defence, National Cadet Corps (NCC) cadets and Home Guard volunteers will participate in the mock drill, which is part of a large-scale nationwide preparedness exercise, a senior official of Civil Defence told PTI. In Maharashtra, mock drills will be conducted in the districts of Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Raigad, Jalgaon, Nashik, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg and Palghar. The mock drill will commence at 4 pm with a siren blaring at multiple locations.

Haryana

Haryana has made elaborate preparations to ensure the success of the exercise in the state, a senior official said. Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, Sumita Misra said Haryana is fully prepared to conduct the mock drill and rehearsal at multiple levels, down to villages. Haryana has 10 districts designated as civil defence towns under Category-II, namely Ambala, Faridabad, Gurugram, Hisar, Panchkula, Panipat, Rohtak, Sirsa, Sonipat and Yamunanagar, and Jhajjar in Category-III, according to an official statement.

Uttar Pradesh

A full-scale civil defence mock drill will be carried out across all districts of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday in coordination with police, fire services, disaster response forces and local administrations to assess emergency preparedness. “Though the central government identified 19 districts for mock drills based on sensitivity categories, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to expand it to all districts,” said Director General of Police Prashant Kumar. “One district is in category A, two in category C, and the rest in category D. We are treating this as a state-wide preparedness exercise,” he added.

Bareilly will observe a district-wide blackout from 8 PM to 8:10 PM on May 7. DM and Civil Defence Controller Avinash Singh has urged residents to switch off all lights, inverters, and avoid using flashlights or mobile torches during this time.

Rajasthan 

Rajasthan officials on Tuesday reviewed the preparations for the mega civil defence mock drill ‘Operation Abhyaas’ to be held in 28 cities in the state under the direction of the Centre that has classified the border state’s Kota and Rawatbhata as ‘most sensitive’. Police sources said the Centre has divided cities into three categories of civil defence for protection in case of a war. Among these, Kota and Rawatbhata (Chittorgarh) have been placed in the most sensitive cities category.

Jaipur has been placed in the second category of ‘less sensitive’ cities while eight cities have been marked as ‘least sensitive’, the sources said.

Gujarat 

Civil defence mock drills and blackouts will be conducted in 18 districts of Gujarat on May 7 as part of a nationwide preparedness exercise to assess the country’s readiness for any hostile attacks, officials said.

While mock drills will be held at vital installations in each of these 18 districts at 4 pm, citizens will participate in ‘blackout’ mock drills by switching off lights between 7.30 pm and 8 pm, Gujarat’s Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi said. In Gujarat, mock drills will be held at Vadodara, Surat, Tapi, Patan, Banaskantha, Ahmedabad, Jamnagar, Devbhumi Dwarka, Morbi, Gir Somnath, Mehsana, Narmada, Navsari, Dang, Kutch, Bharuch, Gandhinagar and Bhavnagar, he said.

Assam

An extensive mock drill will be carried out across 14 ‘civil defence districts’ of Assam following the directives of the central government, officials said here. The official said that the mock drill will start at 4 pm and will continue till all the steps are covered.

Andhra Pradesh 

The civil defence mock drills will be conducted at two locations in Andhra Pradesh, on May 7, in accordance with the instructions from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), said an official. Visakhapatnam district Collector M N Harendhira Prasad said two locations — Kotha Jalaripeta and Oxygen Towers — have been chosen for the drill.

“Tomorrow’s (Wednesday) mock drill we are planning in two locations. One in the old town, near the old post office, Kotha Jalaripeta and the second one is in the Oxygen Towers,” Prasad told PTI. The collector said the air raid will be simulated at Kotha Jalaripeta at 4 pm, entailing what needs to be done in the event of aerial bombings such as evacuation and others.

“At 7 pm in both the locations–Oxygen Towers and Kotha Jalaripeta–there will be a blackout,” he said.

West Bengal

 The West Bengal government on Wednesday will examine the readiness of each security system as a part of the mock drill amid rising tension with Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack, a senior official said. “There are over 90 sirens in Kolkata and 25-30 sirens in various districts. In tomorrow’s mock drill, the readiness of each security system will be checked. It will be checked whether they are working properly,” the official of the state government said.

Starting Wednesday, the mock drills will be conducted for the next seven days, he said, adding that the sirens will be activated during that period.

“The general public will not be included in them, but everyone involved in security will have to participate so that the general public can be provided with security in emergency-like situations,” the official said.

Tripura 

Civil Defence mock drills will be held in all eight districts of Tripura on Wednesday to check the preparedness for handling any emergency situation, a senior official said. Civil defence volunteers, Tripura State Rifles (TSR), Apada Mitra, NCC cadets and Homeguards will participate in the one-and-a-half-hour exercise. Sirens will be sounded at 4 and 5 pm

Chandigarh 

The Chandigarh administration will conduct a 10-minute blackout drill on Wednesday and appealed to residents to turn off electricity on their premises during the exercise. The blackout drill will be conducted from 7:30 pm to 7:40 pm on Wednesday, Chandigarh Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav told reporters.

As part of the drill, air raid warning sirens will be activated at 7:30 pm and continue for 10 minutes.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

The Union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands is fully prepared for the Civil Defence mock drills to be held on Wednesday, an official said. The mock drill is scheduled on Wednesday at 4 pm at Jawaharlal Nehru Rajkeeya Mahavidyalaya (JNRM College) in Port Blair to test the response system of the civil defence district of South Andaman