Amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack which claimed 26 innocent lives, the Gujarat government will carry out a statewide blackout mock drill on May 7. The drill will assess emergency preparedness and civil defence response.
The state will hold a video conference with all district collectors and civil defence volunteers of 14 districts on Tuesday which will also be attended by senior officials from municipal bodies and other key departments. The objective is to coordinate responsibilities and issue detailed instructions regarding the mock blackout.
Director General of Civil Defence and Commandant General of Home Guards, DGP Manoj Agrawal, told Mirror that there are around 14,000 Civil Defence volunteers across 14 districts in Gujarat. “The Home Guards will also be involved in the exercise.”
Explaining the drill, Agrawal said during the blackout, streetlights will be switched off by municipal authorities, while residents will be expected to turn off lights in their homes. The drill will be conducted in a systematic and disciplined manner to simulate a real emergency scenario.
Blackout drills are part of strategic civil defence preparedness. The last such statewide drill was conducted in 2019, amid Indo-Pak tensions following the Pulwama attack.
Following directions from the Centre, states and Union Territories are preparing for a civil defence security drill tomorrow. While the Centre’s instructions to the states’ chief secretaries do not mention the tensions with Pakistan, the timing of the order, amid heightened tensions following the Pahalgam terror attack, leaves no room for interpretation. The last such drill was conducted in the run-up to the 1971 war between India and Pakistan, in which the latter was defeated and Bangladesh was created.
What Are The Objectives
The Home Ministry notification lays down nine objectives of this security drill. The first is to assess the effectiveness of air raid warning systems and aims to prepare people for a response to an aerial attack. Hotline and radio communication lines with the Air Force will also be operational during this drill. It will also test the functionality of control rooms and shadow control rooms.
The notification says civilians and students must be trained in civil defence to protect themselves “in the event of hostile attack”.
