Punjab to hold mock drill Operation Shield on June 3

Sources said Sanjeev Kalra, Special DGP, Punjab Home Guard and Civil Defence, wrote to the Centre expressing inability to conduct the mock drills on May 29, saying a training of civil defence officers is underway in the state. According to sources, Kalra told the Centre that the mock drill will be conducted at 7.30 pm on June 3.

The state government is yet to hear from the Centre on whether they have accepted the decision by Punjab.

Under Operation Shield, the mock drill will be conducted in districts which have been declared as Civil Defence districts by the Centre, including border districts and Ludhiana.

Apart from Haryana, mock drills will also be held in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, and Gujarat on Thursday evening.

On May 7, India conducted a mock drill under Operation Abhyaas shortly after Operation Sindoor, India’s military operation under which the armed forces targeted terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.

In Punjab, the mock drills were held at the civil defence towns of Amritsar, Bathinda, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Batala, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Adampur, Ludhiana, Halwara, Patiala, Pathankot, Barnala, Mohali, Faridkot, Kotkapura, Rupnagar, Bhakra Nangal, Sangrur and Abohar.