In Delhi markets, traders recall Covid, say well-versed with drills

Indian Express

07-05-2025

As a red firefighting bike – the First Responder – runs circles while blaring air sirens at Khan Market, and ambulances and Delhi Fire Service (DFS) vehicles cruise inside its lanes, shoppers start running, many recording their sprints on phones. The scene being played out here is from a mock drill, conducted as part of Operation Abhyaas, on Wednesday.
'People who can run, please stand separately, those who can't, please come to this side,' Sanjeev Mehra, president of Khan Market Association, tells the 15 to 20 shopkeepers who have gathered.
Not many move, prompting Mehra to address pedestrians. 'Shoppers, please, you can also join the drills if interested,' he said.
Mehra then directs the people inside a tent, set up to act as a temporary control room for the drill. At 4 pm, the air siren on the red Aska firefighting bike is turned on, and people start running towards the Khan Market Metro station. The ones inside the control room go down on their knees, hands behind their heads.
As the crowd clears — directed by 90 Delhi Police civil defense volunteers — two DFS tenders and ambulances rush in to rescue those posing as injured civilians. Around 4.10 pm, air sirens blare again, announcing the end of air strikes.
After a drill by the fire tenders, volunteers posing as injured and dead are picked up, some on stretchers and some on the shoulders of NDRF officials. They are loaded into ambulances, which make way from the busy market, as police personnel clear roads by stopping traffic.
At 5.30 pm, the mock drill ends. 'Last time, we saw a mock drill during the Covid-19 pandemic… So, we are well versed with it,' said Harish Goel (60), who runs the Mokobora franchise store.
Puneet Kapoor (50), who owns the designer crockery store Sham Di Hatti, said that the mock drill was much needed as civilians don't understand the 'fragile nature of peace'.
New Delhi District Magistrate Sunny Kumar Singh, who was at the market, said the purpose of the drill was twofold. 'The two main purposes of the drill were public and administrative preparation. We wanted to make people aware of the dos and don'ts… we also needed to see where we stand while dealing with such situations.'
Another busy shopping destination in the Capital, the Central Market in Lajpat Nagar, also observed a similar drill.
Soon after 4 pm, security personnel barricaded a portion of the market. As sirens blared, traders and shoppers vacated the market's barricaded portion on cue. Fire vehicles were stationed in the stretch, while police cars, ambulances, trucks and mini excavators entered the barricaded stretch.
A small park at the centre of the market was turned into an incident command post, where doctors were stationed —providing treatment to the shopkeepers posing as injured civilians, before the civil defence volunteers loaded them into ambulances.