Delhi prepares for emergency, trials on air raid sirens to be held across 11 districts today

G Sudhakar, District Magistrate (DM) of Central Delhi, said that the Directorate of Civil Defence will be testing air raid sirens installed at the PWD headquarters at ITO.

“The testing will commence at 3 pm and be carried out for a period of 15-20 minutes,” Sudhakar said in a statement.

The DM also advised the general public to stay calm and not to panic during the exercise.

Another senior revenue district officer said that they have already installed air raid sirens at several locations, including Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport.

Officials said the Delhi government has decided to procure 500 sirens to be installed across the city and train 1,800 Aapda Mitras (friends for disaster management) through an agency suggested by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

New Delhi district will conduct similar testing of air raid sirens at the NDMC Palika Kendra building in the evening between 6 pm and 7 pm, said an officer.

The South West district, meanwhile, has installed manual and electrical sirens at BPCL, Bijwasan, Vegas Mall Dwarka, Uttam Nagar police station, Dwarka More Metro station, India Gandhi Hospital in Dwarka Sector 10, Dwarka Sector 21 Metro station, and Najafgarh SDM office.

Further, the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), district, and state-level control rooms have been directed to monitor the ground situation 24 hours with backup communications.

Delhi Services on Thursday evening also cancelled the leaves of all government officials and staff following the emergency situation. Officials said those who have already gone on leave or whose leave grants were approved and have been withdrawn, and those staff on leave have been asked to rejoin duty immediately.