Mock drills were conducted by some security agencies in certain locations and some private educational institutions in north Bengal on Wednesday but the region didn’t witness any administrative mock drill in any district despite the Centre’s advisory.
“We didn’t receive any instruction from the state to conduct such drills. If any private institution or establishment conducted the drill on its own, we have nothing to say about it,” said a senior official of the Malda district administration.
In Siliguri, considered a strategic area as it falls under the slimmest part of India between Nepal and Bangladesh, the Siliguri frontier of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), which guards the borders with Nepal and Bhutan, conducted a civil defence demonstration and drill at the Alphonsa School in Kalamjote on the outskirts of Siliguri on Wednesday afternoon.
A team of 60-odd SSB personnel led by Naveen Kumar Rai, the second-in-command of the force posted at the frontier, demonstrated a trained and simulated response to the condition of an air attack.
A firfighting drill was carried out in the school along with an evacuation drill.
“The drill was conducted to make students aware of the correct response following the standard guideline to avoid panic, rumours and mob behaviour during such attacks,” said a source.
Around 500 students and teachers of the school were present at the event.
Some private schools in Jalpaiguri and South Dinajpur conducted drills on their own for the students, sources said.
In Siliguri, the drill was conducted in a shopping mall while a crash blackout was done in a prominent temple complex of the city.
In Jalpaiguri, a 10-minute-long blackout was done at the local station from 7pm when passengers were waiting for the New Jalpaiguri Haldibari passenger train. Due to the blackout, the train halted at Raninagar Jalpaiguri station. It reached Jalpaiguri station later.
During the blackout, only the signalling lights were on. Public announcements asked passengers to be cautious during the blackout. The exercise ended without hassle,” said a source.
A senior official posted in one of the districts in north Bengal said drills might be held in the coming days “in coordination with different agencies and according to the instructions from the state government”.
Action in Sikkim
Full-fledged drills were organised by the administration in association with different agencies in the neighbouring state of Sikkim. An air-raid warning mock drill was held at 4pm in Singtam under the Gangtok district in east Sikkim.
As a part of the drill, a simulated environment of an air strike was created with sirens and alerts to people. A similar drill with a blackout is scheduled to be conducted in capital Gangtok at night, said sources.