Blackout drill held across country to test war readiness

The country on Wednesday witnessed mock drills across several states as blackouts were conducted in cities ranging from Punjab to Tripura as per the directives of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which had advised states to undertake the precautionary measure to prepare the public in the eventuality of an armed conflict.

On May 5, the MHA had directed states to conduct mock drills on May 7 as advised by the Directorate General of Civil Defence, Fire Services and Home Guards.

Subsequently, 244 vulnerable or civil defence districts undertook the mock drill across the country on Wednesday evening.

In the national capital, several areas like the Akshardham Temple, Khan Market and Vijay Chowk, undertook blackout exercises.

Lights were also turned off at the Rashtrapati Bhavan as well as the North Block and the South Block as part of the blackout exercise.

In Madhya Pradesh, blackouts were conducted in Bhopal and other parts of the state, including Gwalior, with Chief Minister Mohan Yadav reviewing the exercise at the State Command Centre.

Blackouts also took place at key locations in Tripura from 5.30 to 5.40 pm to check the readiness of the areas to face an emergency. A siren was sounded at first to warn residents. Punjab also witnessed blackouts across several cities like Amritsar and Ludhiana.

In Haryana, Gurugram was set to undergo a full-night blackout as a part of the mock drill exercise in order to fully experience a no-light zone, according to Deputy Commissioner Ajay Kumar.

Mock drills were also conducted in various parts of the Kashmir valley.

Sources had informed that the aim behind the entire exercise was to check whether the paraphernalia or infrastructure related to dealing with situations like an armed conflict or a natural disaster was in the working mode or not.

“Depending on the feedback of the May 7 mock drills, the drawbacks in the system will be addressed and more such drills will be undertaken in the near future... It will be a continuous process,” a highly placed source said.