Mock drill conducted at Taj hotel to test Chandigarh's emergency readiness

In a proactive measure to assess emergency readiness and coordination among Chandigarh’s law enforcement and emergency services, a large-scale mock drill was conducted today at Taj Chandigarh in Sector 17. The drill was carried out under the guidance of SP (Operations) Geetanjali Khandelwal and supervised by DSP (Operations) Vikas Sheokand.

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The exercise was prompted by the recent terrorist attack on tourists in Pahalgam and aimed to evaluate Chandigarh’s preparedness for similar threats. It involved a comprehensive simulation, including a mock terrorist scenario inside the hotel premises.

During the operation, the hotel was swiftly cordoned off and evacuated by commandos from the Operations cell. A collaborative search was launched involving the house intervention teams, bomb detection and dog squads of Chandigarh Police. The teams successfully located a dummy explosive device in the hotel’s underground parking area.

Multiple emergency response units were involved, including quick reaction teams, PCR vehicles, ambulances from GMSH-16 and the police hospital (Sector 26), fire brigade, civil defence, mobile forensics, crime branch, CID and a police team from Sector 17.

The dummy bomb was safely transported in a sand bag-laden vehicle to the Police Lines, Sector 26, for defusing, under escort by PCR vehicles. Officials confirmed that no other suspicious items or persons were found during the complete building search. The exercise concluded successfully.