Mock drills were organized on Saturday in states and union territories adjacent to the western border from Jammu and Kashmir to Gujarat to enhance wart-time emergency preparations and reaction capabilities.
Officials said exercises were practiced by air strikes, drone attacks and other war-time scenario, while emergency response teams practiced rescue operations as part of civil security mock drills under Operation Shield in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and Chandigarh. The exercise was earlier scheduled for 29 May, but was postponed by the Union Home Ministry.
On 7 May, the government conducted the first civil security practice across the country. Although the announcement was made a few days ago after the terrorist attack on April 22 in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, in the midst of increased tension with Pakistan, in which 26 people were killed, but India had run Operation Sindoor through defense forces targeting terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan on the morning of 7 May.
The prevention was practiced in all districts of Punjab and neighboring Haryana, in which visuals were shown by volunteers, following the injured and carrying them to an ambulance on the stretcher, while firefighters practiced extinguishing the fire. Blackout rehearsals were also done in both states and union territories Chandigarh, as electricity was shut down in many places.
According to an official, exercises were conducted to simulate important events in view of the current national security concerns and to evaluate the effectiveness of the emergency reaction mechanisms in real -time situations at three places. He said that several agencies including fire fighting, police, health and disaster management were coordinated in this exercise, while trained volunteers of Civil Protection, National Service Scheme (NSS) and National Cadet Corps (NCC) also participated.
The main attraction of Operation Shield was a huge participation of around 10,000 civil security volunteers, who worked closely with NCC, NSS, Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS), Home Guard. The blackout rehearsal started around 8 pm and lasted from 10 minutes to half an hour in various cities. Blackout drill was planned for half an hour at 9 pm in Fazilka, the border district of Punjab.
In Chandigarh, the situation of attacking the enemy drone at the Air Force Station was imitated. In response, the station commander sought assistance from the civil administration to evacuate families from the station premises. Similarly, in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, the practice was based on a fictional landscape in which an enemy drone attacked a military station, inspiring the station commander to seek immediate assistance from the civil administration.
A warning of air strike was played at 6 pm in Fazilka, after which the practice began. Emergency response teams practiced rescue operations at a school in Khatipura in Jaipur, Rajasthan in the scenario of an imaginary air strike. Civil Defense and State Disaster Response Forces teams immediately activated their emergency response protocol and took volunteers working as injured to nearby hospitals.
During the practice, volunteers acted as if they were trapped on the roofs after an airstrikes. The rescue team used a crane to evacuate them. A similar mock drill was also done in other cities of the state. As part of the mock drill in Kashmir, blackouts were seen from 8 pm to 8.15 pm and the lights of government buildings, homes and business installations were closed.
Officials said the lights were closed at Lal Chowk City Center including the historic Clock tower in Srinagar. He said that business activities, movement of vehicles and regular operations were stopped for a period of 15 minutes. He said that a large number of students and local people as well as experts and personnel of SDRF, Health Department, Fire and Emergency services participated in this exercise.
In Gujarat, exercises were conducted in 18 districts of the state including Rajkot, Kutch, Patan, Morbi, Banaskantha, Chhota Udaipur and Nadiad. The official release said, “Civil security mock drill was organized at Sadar Bazar Cantonment of Shahibag in Ahmedabad. Under these exercises, programs such as gathering volunteers, imitation of air strikes, communication system activation, blackout protocols, blood donation camps and evacuation process were organized.”
