ITO air raid sire reminds residents of wartime tales

New Delhi, May 9 (PTI) An air raid siren set off Friday as part of a drill in central Delhi's ITO perked many an ear in the vicinity and jolted a few out of their afternoon torpor.

The civil defence directorate tested an air raid siren installed atop the multistorey PWD building in ITO for 10 to 15 minutes. Many in the neighbourhood said they had heard it for the first time.

"Around 3 pm, we heard a loud sound, which gradually became feeble. Although since yesterday I have been seeing videos of sirens being blared in places where attacks happened, hearing it for real was a first-time experience," Namantullah, 21, who has a shop near the building, said.

"My grandfather used to tell me about the Kargil War or the 1971 Indo-Pak war. We could not grasp the ominousness of it because we weren't there. These sirens, though only a test, made it all too real," he added.

Gaurav Gupta, 45, another shopkeeper, said that while the siren wasn't as loud as he had expected, it helped him understand what to do when an emergency strikes.

"If god forbid something happens, we have a metro nearby and also a big mosque where we can rush to take shelter. As citizens, it is our duty to support our armed forces and act responsibly without creating panic," Gupta said.

Police and civil defence volunteers briefed people on the steps they must take when an air raid siren is sounded. A PCR van of the Delhi Traffic Police was stationed on the road to regulate the traffic in case people panicked because of the siren.

"Rush to the safest place you can find, preferably under the tables or in the basement of a building. One should come on their knees or lie on the ground with their hands covering their ears so that the sound doesn't make you uncomfortable," a civil defence volunteer said.

She advised people against taking shelter under the trees as they can fall on them.

Delhi PWD minister Parvesh Verma on Friday said air raid sirens will be installed at several highrises across the national capital. These sirens can be heard within a radius of eight kilometres.

"From Friday night, 40 to 50 sirens will be installed atop multistorey buildings. They will be used in case of an emergency," he said.

The testing comes amid intensified hostilities between India and Pakistan. Both countries have launched missiles in the border areas against each other.

The armed conflict began with India's hitting nine locations linked with the terrorists in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, as a consequence of the Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were shot dead. PTI SSJ VN VN