Today (Thursday) the sound of sirens echoed in 6 districts of Bihar including Patna at 7 pm and the entire city went blackout. There was no electricity in the houses and the vehicles stopped wherever they were on the roads. A mock drill was organized to prepare for an air attack or any emergency.

Apart from the capital Patna, this mock drill was also held in Kishanganj, Begusarai, Purnia, Araria and Katihar as per the previously decided districts. Exactly at seven o’clock in the evening darkness spread across the city. There was darkness from 7 o’clock to 7:15. After this everything became normal as before. Complete preparations were made by the district administration for the mock drill.

Four places were selected in Patna

Four simulation sites were selected in Patna for the mock drill, which include Collectorate, Biscomaan Bhawan, Bankipur Bus Stand and IGIMS. An appeal was already made to the people to switch off all the lights of their homes, shops, establishments, vehicles etc. at the prescribed time. This was also done.

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Control room remained active during mock drill

The district administration also appealed to the general public not to panic. This mock drill is a pre-determined program in the light of Government orders to test the effectiveness of the mechanism in actual situation of air strike. Actually there is no situation of any kind of attack. This is just a mock drill. An appeal was made not to pay attention to any kind of rumour. The control room remained active during the mock drill.

A staging area (incident command site) was created at Gandhi Maidan in Patna. All stakeholders of disaster management including NDRF, SDRF, fire, health, civil defence, NCC, law and order, traffic, police conducted the mock exercise successfully.

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