Amritsar administration starts blackout process again, residents asked to stay in: DPRO

The District administration in Punjab's Amritsar started the blackout process again in the wee hours of Thursday, hours after the mock drill saw lights go out in the city.

According to a statement by the district public relations officer (DPRO), the blackout was purely out of ‘utmost caution’. The residents have been asked not to panic and to stay inside their homes.

"Taking utmost caution, the Amritsar district administration has again started the blackout process. Please stay at home, do not panic, and do not gather outside your houses; keep the outside lights switched off," the statement quoted by ANI stated.

The precautionary measure comes just hours after the nationwide mock drills to check security preparedness were held at the orders of the ministry of home affairs. The resumed blackout in Amritsar was also part of the same nationwide civil defence drill.

Mock drills simulated multiple hostile scenarios like air raids, fire emergencies, and search and rescue operations, among others. The drills were carried out in several states and Union Territories (UTs) as part of the 'Operation Abhyaas'.

Why were the mock drills held across the country?

The mock drills, which were announced by the MHA on Monday, took place a few hours after the Indian military launched Operation Sindoor, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in a strong response to the terror attack in Pahalgam. The April 22 attack, carried out by the terror organisation The Resistance Front, killed 26 civilians.

Training of civilians in the event of hostile attacks, provision of crash blackout measures, early camouflaging of vital installations, verifying the response of civil defence services, evaluating the preparedness of evacuation plans and their execution were also noted to be examined during the drill.

Close to 300 'civil defence districts' across the country with sensitive installations like nuclear plants, military bases, refineries and hydroelectric dams were covered by mock drills on air-raid warning sirens, civilian training for a "hostile attack" and cleaning of bunkers and trenches.

In Punjab, mock drills simulating emergency scenarios, like fire emergencies, and rescue operations were performed in Ferozepur, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Bathinda, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Patiala, Pathankot, Barnala and Mohali.