As part of a nationwide civil defence drill, the Amritsar district administration has resumed blackout measures to ensure public safety and preparedness, the District Public Relations Officer (DPRO) said on Wednesday.
“Taking utmost caution, the Amritsar district administration has again initiated the blackout process. Please stay at home, do not panic, and avoid gathering outside your homes; keep all outside lights switched off,” the Amritsar DPRO said in a statement.
The blackout in Amritsar was part of a nationwide civil defence mock drill ordered by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to evaluate emergency preparedness in the event of future threats. The exercise involved scheduled blackouts at key locations across the country.
Speaking about the previous blackout in Amritsar, ASI Jagtar Singh told ANI, “The blackout lasted from 10:30 pm to 11:00 pm, a total of half an hour. The instructions were to ensure no lights were visible so that the enemy could not detect the city. The rehearsal is being conducted in the interest of national security. Some people are cooperating, while others are not. The siren was activated, and there was a complete blackout within two minutes.”
Several states, including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Bihar, also observed similar blackouts. Cities such as Barmer, Gwalior, Surat, Shimla, and Patna participated by switching off lights at key buildings and public spaces. In the national capital, Delhi, landmarks such as Rashtrapati Bhavan and Vijay Chowk went dark for the drill. Raj Bhavan in Patna also took part.
Earlier in the day, civil defence mock drills were conducted in major cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Gwalior, and Jaipur. These drills aimed to assess how local authorities and citizens respond to emergencies.
The nationwide preparedness drill came after the Indian Armed Forces launched Operation Sindoor early Wednesday morning — a retaliatory strike on terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) — in response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 civilians, including one Nepali national, were killed.
—ANI
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