Operation Abhyaas: Gurgaon joins countrywide mock drill with voluntary blackout

Yet, members of resident welfare associations (RWAs) reported that they had received little official guidance about the drill. “At present, the public is totally confused and expecting us to share official plans,” said Chaitali Mandhotra, a member of the Ardee City RWA. “No one has approached us till now from the administration. I checked with the SHO — they have only information and no instructions,” added Kusum Sharma, an RWA member from Suncity.

Vikas Hooda, president of the Ashok Vihar Phase 3 RWA, noted that while residents had voluntarily observed the blackout, there were no outward signs of an official drill. “But there is no sign of the district administration or any drill at present. No sirens were heard all day,” he said.

Officials had earlier announced a full-scale exercise, ‘Operation Abhyas,’ across 11 districts in Haryana, including Gurgaon. A control room was established at the city’s Mini Secretariat, and students had been instructed in schools to observe the evening blackout. A staging area for relief and rescue teams was set up at Tau Devi Lal Stadium.

Residential societies in Gurgaon switched off their lights to observe the blackout. (Express Photo)

The sites selected for the drills in Gurgaon included Ambience Mall, Salwan Public School in Sector 15, a government school in Sector 4/7, Hero Honda Chowk, and Garhi Wazirpur village. At 4 pm, a loud siren was scheduled to sound across the district to alert the public, but according to residents, no such siren was heard.

The administration deployed five rescue teams to the stadium staging area. Each was led by a task force manager and included ambulances, doctors, nurses, firefighters, police officers, Civil Defence volunteers, and members of the Red Cross, among other emergency responders.

In advance of the drill, Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Ajay Kumar had urged residents to participate, asking them to switch off their lights and stay indoors for the ten-minute blackout. “There is no need to panic,” Kumar said, stressing that the exercise was intended to evaluate the rapid response capabilities of the city’s emergency services and supporting departments.