Nationwide Civil Defence Mock Drills begin at 4 pm today

A nationwide civil defence mock drill is set to take place on Wednesday, May 7, across 244 districts in India, as directed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). This marks the first major exercise of its scale in decades and comes shortly after India carried out airstrikes on nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.

The precision strikes were launched in the early hours of Wednesday and lasted just 25 minutes. Between 1.05 a.m. and 1.30 a.m., 24 missiles were deployed to strike nine terrorist facilities, including Lashkar-e-Taiba’s headquarters in Muridke and major terror training sites in Bahawalpur — long considered breeding grounds for extremist operations.

The Indian government confirmed that all nine targets were successfully struck, with no civilian or military infrastructure in Pakistan being affected. The strikes were part of India’s response to the April 22 terror attack that claimed the lives of 25 Indians and one Nepali national in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has instructed multiple states to carry out mock drills aimed at strengthening civil defence preparedness. The drills will involve activating air raid warning systems and training civilians, including students, in key safety protocols to safeguard themselves during potential hostile threats or attacks.

Haryana Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi on Wednesday chaired a review meeting on the arrangements for the mock drill under ‘Operation Abhyas’, which will be conducted across all 22 districts of Haryana at 4:00 pm today. In alignment with this exercise, the general public have been requested to switch off all lights in their homes from 7:50 pm to 8:00 pm as a part of the drill. In Delhi alone, the drill will be carried out at more than 55 places, with five locations chosen in each of the city’s 11 districts.

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