New Delhi, April 2 A city-wide civil defence mock drill simulating a hostile attack, including air raid warnings, blackout measures, and evacuation exercises, was conducted across all 13 districts of Delhi on Thursday.
The exercise began at 8 pm in select locations, where teams carried out rescue and evacuation drills, including moving people to designated bunker areas and deploying medical teams to handle simulated casualties, according to an order from the Delhi Directorate of Civil Defence.
At Rainbow Children Hospital in Malaviya Nagar, SDM Jitendra Kumar said the teams responded to simulated alerts before carrying out operations at the hospital.
"We received alerts and moved to the staging area before deploying teams for the operation. Multiple units, including disaster response teams and medical staff, were present and carried out coordinated action," the official said.
In the mock drill, a coordinated air raid warning was issued through a hotline linking the Air Force Station at Arjangarh with civil defence control centers, followed by a sudden blackout across districts, according to the order.
During the blackout drills, lights were switched off in selected areas to simulate conditions during a hostile attack and assess the implementation of blackout protocols, it said.
The drill also involved the identification of vulnerable areas and key installations, along with planning for camouflage to reduce risks.
A police official involved in the exercise said a mock drill was conducted in the morning in a basement area identified as a bunker, where people were moved to safety and medical teams were stationed to respond to emergencies.
"We practised how to move people to safe locations and how medical teams would respond if there are casualties. Multiple agencies, including civil defence, NCC, civic bodies, and disaster management teams, participated in the exercise," the official said.
The official added that such drills are conducted periodically to ensure preparedness and coordination among agencies in case of real emergencies.
The drill was conducted at several prominent locations across the city, including the Taj Palace Hotel, Delhi Cantonment General Hospital, Raj Kumari Amrit Kaur College of Nursing, and Omaxe Mall in Chandni Chowk, among others, it read.
The drill involved civil defence services, police, fire services, disaster response teams, and medical units working together to test coordination, communication systems, and response time.
District magistrates and civil defence controllers supervised the drill and will submit detailed reports to the civil defence headquarters on April 3 for further assessment, and the reports will be further shared with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the order added.
