Civil defence mock drill to be held on Thursday in western border states
New Delhi, May 28 (PTI): The government has decided to carry out a civil defence exercise on Thursday in all districts of states and Union territories adjoining the western border -- from Jammu and Kashmir to Gujarat -- on how to face air raids from enemy aircraft, drones, missile attacks among others.
In a communication, the Directorate General of Fire Service and Home Guards conveyed that the civil defence exercise "Operation Shield" will be carried out in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and Chandigarh.
On May 7, hours ahead of Operation Sindoor, the government had conducted the first civil defence exercise across the country.
The civil defence authorities requested the states and UTs to plan and organise the exercise at 1700 hours onwards on Thursday by involving all local administration and stakeholders, sources said.
During the second civil defence exercise, the "contingencies envisaged to be practised include general/silent recall of civil defence wardens/volunteers".
"Stakeholders from local administration and youth volunteers like NCC, NSS, NYKS, Bharat Scouts & Guides, to man different services and assist the civil administration in the implementation of various civil defence measures like air raids from enemy aircraft, drones and missile attacks," the communication said.
Responding to the April 22 terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalagam in which 26 people were killed, Operation Sindoor was carried out by India on May 7 through which the defence forces targeted terror camps at nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Later, some Pakistani military bases were also targeted by India in retaliatory action during four days of skirmishes with the neighbouring country between May 7 and 10. Pakistani forces resorted to heavy shelling along the border and LoC in Jammu and Kashmir and also tried to attack some other places along the International Border in the western sector with drones and missiles.
The Directorate, which comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs, said during the first civil defence exercise held on May 7, critical gaps in the civil defence preparedness of the vulnerable areas of the country were observed.
Instructions to take necessary actions to suitably address the issues were issued on May 9.
Accordingly, emergency powers were invoked and funding arrangements through the State Disaster Response Force were also made.
In order to augment the civil defence preparedness against any hostile attack, the second exercise "Operation Shield" will be carried out in all the districts of states and UTs, adjoining the western border on May 29.
During the exercise, there will be activation of centrally controlled and operated air raid sirens, and complete blackout measures adjoining civilian areas among others, sources said.
According to the plan, during the mock drills, evacuation of the families of one of the military stations will be practised in case of drone attacks. The deployment of medical teams and the transportation of blood units among others will also be done.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
