Chandigarh, Panchkula to observe mock drills, blackouts today
In a bid to improve coordination among the civil administration, emergency services, and armed forces in an event of war-like or hostile situation, mock drills and blackouts will be organised in Chandigarh and Panchkula under the initiative 'Operation Shield'.
A 10-minute blackout will be observed in the Kishangarh and IT Park areas of Chandigarh on Saturday from 8 pm to 8.10 pm.
The exercise is being coordinated by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, and will take place across states and Union Territories along the western border to enhance emergency response capabilities.
In Chandigarh, the blackout will simulate emergency conditions in the event of a hostile attack. Additionally, a mock drill will be held at the Community Centre in Sector 47, simulating a drone attack on a military station. As part of the scenario, 20 civilians will be evacuated, and the medical response system will be tested, including the arrangement of 30 units of blood and deployment of medical teams for the injured.
It will involve civil defence volunteers, Home Guards, NCC, NSS, NGOs, and local authorities. Key activities will include air raid simulations, drone and missile threat drills, operation of air raid sirens, and communication exercises between civil and military control rooms.
The Border Wing Home Guards will also be mobilised as part of rear area security support for the Indian Army.
Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav has directed all departments under the Chandigarh Administration to participate fully and extend complete cooperation to ensure the success of the drill.
Meanwhile, a 15-minute blackout will be observed throughout Panchkula district on Saturday, from 8 pm to 8:15 pm.
Panchkula Deputy Commissioner Monika Gupta announced that the blackout is being organised to raise awareness and test readiness during hostile conditions. Citizens were urged to turn off all indoor and outdoor lighting, avoid using mobile flashlights or any light sources, and remain alert while cooperating fully with the administration.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
4 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Bargari sacrilege: Justice denied, says AAP MLA Kunwar Vijay
AAP MLA from Amritsar North and former IPS officer Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh on Sunday raked up the 2015 Bargari sacrilege and also raised questions over the integrity of his own party's government on delivering justice. In a Facebook post, he shared a poster marking the sacrilege incident that took place at Burj Jawahar Singh Wala in Faridkot on June 1 and titled it 'Justice Denied'. 'Today marks 10 years since the beadbi (sacrilege) incident. Till now, it has not been decided which court will hear the case — whether the district court of Faridkot or that of Chandigarh. The investigation by the relevant SIT also remains incomplete,' he mentioned. He said, 'Similarly, the sacrilege incident in Bargari in September and October 2015 shook all of Punjab. The situation in that case is no different. The Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan police firing cases, which occurred on October 14, were also shelved.' 'Whenever I had the opportunity, I made every effort to raise this issue in the Punjab assembly. On October 9, 2021, after the high court's order regarding the Kotkapura firing, I resigned from my IPS position,' he said. According to Kunwar Vijay, 'Three months later, after Kejriwal assured me of justice, I joined the Aam Aadmi Party. If AAP's 92 MLAs were elected, the issue of sacrilege had big contribution to it. But today, I feel both ashamed and disheartened. In fact, I have faced constant oppression from the government machinery politically and if I am still alive today, it is only by God's grace.' 'There is, however, some solace for me and for the people of Punjab that the main accused admitted his guilt before the Akal Takht on December 2, 2024', he said. A former IPS officer who headed the SIT probing post-sacrilege police firing incidents that killed two Sikh protesters in 2015, Kunwar Vijay is known for his dissenting voice and raised questions over the AAP government publicly in past. He never misses an opportunity to take potshots at his party's government in Punjab, particularly targeting chief minister Bhagwant Mann. Recently, Singh questioned the arrest of Jalandhar Central MLA Raman Arora in a graft case, alleging the legislator was often seen hosting members of Mann's family. Prior to this, he had also criticised the state government over the deaths of 27 people due to the consumption of spurious liquor in the Majitha sub-division of Amritsar.
Indian Express
6 hours ago
- Indian Express
Crackdown against illegal immigrants has to follow due process
In the wake of the brutal terrorist attack on Pahalgam, the government has done the right thing by heightening security across the country. It has intensified operations against terrorists and given greater urgency to increasing surveillance along the borders. Last month, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order asking states and Union Territories to detect and deport foreigners, especially people from Bangladesh and Myanmar, living illicitly in the country. The Centre's instructions have prompted several states to intensify their ongoing operations against suspected illegal immigrants. From the West Bengal government's allegation, earlier this year, of BSF's laxity against Bangladeshi 'infiltrators' to Delhi's erstwhile AAP government's drive against 'illegal Bangladeshi' students to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's frequent diatribes against immigrants from India's eastern neighbour, the issue of illegal immigration has raised its head time and again in the heat and dust of Indian politics. The Centre and state governments must understand that the current moment has a far more compelling imperative than polarising politics — the two should be kept scrupulously apart. However, reports in this newspaper shine a light on the disquieting tendency among authorities to ignore court proceedings — and take the short cut bypassing due process. Among the people caught in the no man's land between India and Bangladesh is an Assam school teacher whose citizenship case is being heard by the Supreme Court. And, days ago, a 50-year-old woman was pushed into Bangladesh and then brought back after her lawyer flagged that she was legally in the clear. In Assam and several other regions of the Northeast, the movement of people across the mostly porous border across Bangladesh is an immensely sensitive and fraught issue. On the one hand, the movement of people across regions has a long history that predates Partition. On the other hand, the anti-outsider sentiment was the major trigger for the Assam agitation and has often led to violence in the state. In recent years, the state's BJP government has stoked anxieties around identity and demography by framing the narrative in communal terms. The state government's aggressive use of the Foreigner's Tribunal – it sets March 25, 1971, as the cut-off date for citizenship in Assam – has left thousands with an uncertain future. The onus is almost always on the accused to prove their citizenship. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma has cited a Supreme Court directive of February in support of the latest anti-immigration drive. However, Sarma's past pronouncements — especially his use of dog whistles, 'land jihad' and 'flood jihad,' to refer to the migrant problem — do not inspire confidence. The Assam CM has said that the recent drive does not target people who have appealed to the courts after the revocation of their nationality by a tribunal. Last week, however, the Gauhati High Court had to intercede on behalf of two such people, whose families fear that they may have been 'pushed out' to Bangladesh. That Myanmar and Bangladesh are in political turmoil today doesn't make the task any easier. That should not, however, be the rationale for rounding off suspected illegal migrants and pushing them across borders. On immigration crackdown, the short-cut will always be more expedient — most of the victims are vulnerable and without adequate representation — but due process, even if it is a long haul, needs to be followed and seen to be followed. Only then will it engender a security that endures.
Mint
7 hours ago
- Mint
Over 2,000 illegal immigrants deported to Bangladesh amid massive crackdown after Op Sindoor: Report
At least 2,000 alleged illegal Bangladeshi immigrants have been 'pushed back' across the border by Indian authorities since Operation Sindoor began in the early hours of May 7, according to a report. The action was taken following a nationwide verification exercise along the Bangladesh border in Tripura, Meghalaya, and Assam, according to the report in The Indian Express. The action began along the borders in Gujarat which accounts for half of the illegal immigrants sent back to their country, the report said quoting officials. Among other states, Delhi and Haryana, have also sent back immigrants in large numbers. The immigrants have also been sent back in Assam, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, according to the report. The action is being carried out based on the instructions from Union Ministry of Home Affairs. 'It is an ongoing process and all states which have cities with significant economic activity are rounding up such illegal immigrants after verification of their documents. A focused effort began in this direction following the Pahalgam attacks in April. Since Operation Sindoor, it has picked up pace,' the report quoted an unnamed official. After political changes in Bangladesh in August 2024, on the directions of MHA, the States started a crackdown on illegally staying foreigners in the country. After the Pahalgam terror attack on 22 April 2025, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs asked the states to intensify the drive against undocumented migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on 22 May that India has asked Bangladesh to verify the nationality of 2,369 'illegal migrants' so that they can be deported. The MEA said that some cases have been pending for more than five years. The report said that these illegal immigrants are first taken to the borders from the states in IAF aircraft where these are handed over to the Border Security Force. They are then kept in makeshift camps at the border where they are provided with food and some Bangladeshi currency, if needed, before being sent back to their country, the report said. 'Because of largescale reports about a crackdown, many illegal immigrants from Bangladesh are voluntarily leaving the country for the fear of being detained,' the official said in the report. India carried out precision strikes under Operation Sindoor on nine terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, on 7 May in response to the22 April Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people, mostly tourists in Jammu and Kashmir. Following the Indian action, Pakistan attempted to attackIndian military baseson 8, 9 and 10 May. The Pakistani attempts were strongly responded to by the Indian side by inflicting heavy damage to a number of key Pakistani military installations, including air bases, air defence systems, command and control centres and radar sites. The process is ongoing in many states. Last week, Delhi Police has said that approximately 900 illegal Bangladeshi nationals residing in the national capital have been identified and will be deported after proper verification. Delhi's Special Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, Devesh Chandra Srivastava, said that the process of deporting undocumented migrants has gained momentum in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack. As many as 160 undocumented migrants from Bangladesh were flown on an Indian Air Force (IAF) plane to Agartala from Ghaziabad on 25 May to be sent across to the neighbouring country. The Maharashtra government is also conducting a similar exercise with the Mumbai Police saying last month that about 300 illegal Bangladeshis have been deported in recent times. Maharashtra Police said 766 such illegal immigrants have been arrested so far this year. "Our government will not do injustice to any such government will not do injustice to anyone except Bangladeshi infiltrators. Action will be taken against those who are eligible for action, the general public will not be harassed," Cabinet Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said. Earlier Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters that India has adopted a new 'push back' strategy to tackle infiltration from Bangladesh. Sarma said the Centre has deported illegal immigrants, including Rohingyas, from different parts of the country, including from the Matia detention centre in Goalpara - one of the largest facilities in the country housing illegal immigrants in the country. On 26 May, Brigadier General Md. Nazim-ud-Daula, director of the Military Operations Directorate of the Bangladesh Army, said at a press conference in Dhaka that 'push-ins are unacceptable'. Our government will not do injustice to anyone except Bangladeshi infiltrators. 'BGB (Border Guards Bangladesh) is handling it efficiently, and if needed, the army will step in under government instruction. For now, BGB is managing well, within international protocols,' he said, according to Daily Star, Bangladesh.
