States told to hold civil defence drills on May 7

Exercises to be held across states, UTs

- Neeraj Chauhan

The Centre on Monday announced that it will conduct civil defence preparedness drills, including testing air raid warning sirens, training on civil defence protocols and crash blackout measures, as the government firmed up its response to Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack.

The comprehensive drills, scheduled for Wednesday, were ordered across the 244 civil defence districts. A drill at this scale has not been conducted in the country since 1971, when India defeated Pakistan in a war that led to the creation of Bangladesh.

"Government of India has decided to organise civil defence exercise and rehearsal across the 244 categorised civil defence districts of the country on 07.05.2025. The conduct of the exercise is planned up to the village level. This exercise aims to assess and enhance the readiness of civil defence mechanisms across all states and Union territories," said a letter sent to the chief secretaries of all states and administrators of Union territories seen by HT, dated May 5.

Union home secretary Govind Mohan will hold a meeting on the drills on Tuesday, according to a second letter seen by HT. The meeting will be attended by the chief secretaries of all states and UTs, officials of the National Disaster Management Authority, National Disaster Response Force, Railways and air defence, the letter said. The ministry had previously written to all states on the drills on May 2.

"In the civil defence exercise, active participation of the district controller, various district authorities, civil defence wardens/volunteers, home guard (active/reservists volunteers), NCC, NSS, NYKS, college/school students is envisaged. The said civil defence exercise is aimed to assess the operational efficacy and operational coordination of various civil defence measures," the letter added.