Mock drill by bomb squad, flag marches in Malerkotla

Mahesh Sharma

Malerkotla, April 20

It was an exciting first-hand experience for residents of this town to see the reaction of the local police after receiving information about an unattended bag found near some shops in a busy market. At the end of the exercise, it was a learning session for cops performing election duty.

While a team of cops surrounded the bag with jute bags filled with sand, senior functionaries arrived in vehicles with beacons atop and sirens buzzing to find a solution to the problem. They were followed by members of a bomb squad, wearing explosive ordnance disposal suits and equipped with related devices.

The police officials later said it was a mock drill carried out to check the alertness of their personnel deployed for beefing up security ahead of elections for Sangrur and Fatehgarh Sahib Lok Sabha constituencies in this region.

They (police personnel) claimed that the Malerkotla police was now conversant with the algorithm of response and reaction after receiving information about any object suspected to be an explosive device.

“We have conducted an exercise to update our police on how to react on receiving information about the presence of some unattended object. During the mock drill we had placed a dummy bomb in a bag outside a shop and made a call regarding it. All protocols pertaining to such emergency calls were followed,” said DSP (H) Karamjit Singh after the bag was taken away by members of the bomb squad that was called from the nearest Ludhiana police commissionerate.

Malerkotla SSP Simrat Kaur claimed that proactive security arrangements had been made in view of the ensuing Lok Sabha election, which is scheduled to take place on June 1.

“While the mock drill was carried out to tone up our own force, we conducted flag marches in all three subdivisions of the district to boost morale of the public and scare anti-social elements, so that people can cast their vote fearlessly,” said Simrat.

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