Delhi: Air raid sirens to be tested in ITO, public urged not to panic

New Delhi: The Delhi government and the police will conduct trials of the newly installed air siren system in central Delhi’s ITO on Friday afternoon as a precautionary measure amid rising tension between India and Pakistan. The sirens will be heard around a radius of 4 km, a police officer said.

The testing will commence at 3 pm and be carried out for a period of 15-20 minutes, a government order said. “Accordingly, it is requested that adequate publicity may be made through social and electronic media so that general public are advised to stay calm and not to panic during the said exercise,” the order signed by district magistrate (Central) G. Sudhakar reads.

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Delhi police teams have been deployed to check the preparedness of the staff as well as equipment, an officer said. The directorate of civil defence will carry out the trials at the public works department (PWD) headquarters at ITO.

The city police emphasised that Friday’s operation is only a trial and have asked people to not panic. For example, a mock drill was conducted for school students and locals on Wednesday as per centre’s orders to prepare people in case of any emergency.

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The station house officer in Daryaganj also made public announcements on Friday morning saying: “Today, at 3 pm, there will be checking of air raid sirens at PWD HQ. The sirens will be heard at a radius of 4 km. Don’t panic since this is only checking. Later on, whenever we use this, it would be a warning sign. But not today”