Civil defence exercise slated on Thursday postponed

Chandigarh: The Haryana government on Wednesday evening said that the civil defence exercise Operation Shield, scheduled to be held on Thursday, stands postponed following Union Home Ministry's directions.

"As per the instructions of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the Haryana Home Department announced the postponement of the comprehensive civil defence exercise, Operation Shield, which was scheduled to be conducted on Thursday," an official statement said.

All the deputy commissioners and other stakeholders have been informed about this, the statement said.

The Chandigarh administration has also announced postponement of the civil defence exercise.

A statement issued by the Chandigarh administration on Wednesday evening said, "As per directions received from the Government of India, it is hereby informed that the civil defence exercise Operation Shield, which was planned for May 29, is hereby postponed due to administrative reasons. There will be no blackout or mock drill tomorrow."

 Earlier in the day, the Haryana government had issued a statement, which said a mock drill was scheduled to take place across all the 22 districts of the state between 5 pm and 9 pm on Thursday, to strengthen its emergency preparedness.

It had said that the drill was being organised under the guidance of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, to simulate critical incidents such as air raids, drone attacks and other wartime scenarios in view of the current national security concerns.

Similar exercises across Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Jummu and Kashmir stand postponed.