Mock drills to be conducted at 20 places in Punjab
Preparations have been made for mock drills at 20 places in Punjab on Wednesday, officials said here.
The Union Home Ministry on Monday asked all states to conduct mock drills on Wednesday in view of “new and complex threats” that have emerged amid rising tensions with Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack.
Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Tuesday said mock drills will be carried out at 20 places in the state on Wednesday, including Ferozepur, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Bathinda, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Patiala, Pathankot, Barnala and Mohali.
Preparations are almost complete for conducting the mock drill, he added.
Cheema said the directions of the Home Ministry will be followed during the mock drill exercise.
The objective of such a drill is to create awareness among the public and take necessary precautions in the event of any attack, said Cheema.
Meanwhile, Ferozepur Deputy Commissioner Deepshikha Sharma said as part of the mock drill preparations, six civil defence sirens will be sounded in the city and the Ferozepur Cantonment area from 7 to 7.15 pm on Tuesday.
“These sirens will be sounded for the preparation of the May 7 mock drill,” she said, adding that there was no need to worry.
A senior police official in Ferozepur said a blackout rehearsal will be carried out from 9 to 9.30 pm on Wednesday.
The official said police patrolling teams will be deployed.
In Haryana too, mock drills will be conducted at many places, including Ambala, Faridabad, Gurugram, Hisar, Panchkula, Panipat and Rohtak.
According to a Home Ministry communication, the measures to be taken during the mock drills include the operationalisation of air-raid warning sirens, training civilians on civil-defence aspects to protect themselves in the event of a “hostile attack” and cleaning bunkers and trenches.
The other measures are provisions for crash-blackout measures, early camouflaging of vital plants and installations and updating and rehearsing evacuation plans, a letter to the chief secretaries of all states and administrators of Union Territories said.
The mock drills also include the operationalisation of hotline and radio-communication links with the Indian Air Force (IAF), testing the functionality of control rooms and shadow control rooms.
It said the active participation of the district controllers, various district authorities, civil-defence wardens, volunteers, home guards (active and reservists’ volunteers), National Cadet Corps (NCC), National Service Scheme (NSS), Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS), college and school students is envisaged in the exercise.
Punjab