Delhi On High Alert: Mega Anti-Terror Drills Over 10 Locations On July 17–18-OxBig News Network

Delhi Police, with the cooperation of a broad range of partner agencies, has kicked off a two-day, multi-venue anti-terror exercise at over ten strategic locations in the city today, July 17, and extending to tomorrow, July 18. The all-encompassing exercise will thoroughly test inter-agency coordination and preparedness against intricate terror situations.

Mock drills, which are commencing at 12 PM today and will continue at the same hour tomorrow, are an inter-agency effort involving multiple crucial units. They comprise the Delhi Police’s Special Cell (nodal anti-terror unit), SWAT units, CISF personnel at Metro stations, fire brigade, civil defence volunteers, health department, and traffic police, in addition to active support by Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs).

“Mock-drills are the norm where the effectiveness and efficiency of institutional mechanisms and coordination between agencies are tested in various situations,” said a top Delhi Police officer. on the condition that they not be named. He added that such drills are routine, but the prevailing security scenario has called for a bigger, multi-location, multi-agency drill. The bigger drill was planned after rounds of inter-agency communications and tabletop exercises went on for long.

The situations being practiced are meant to gauge responsiveness from headquarters to units in the field, including incident command, hostage rescue missions, evacuation operations, detection of secondary devices, suspect screening, and crowd management. The exercise is meant to confirm readiness of all forces to effectively respond to possible terror attacks.

In order to gain cooperation of the public and avoid panic and disinformation during increased activity, the authorities are going out of their way to inform Delhi citizens and commuters about the drills. Delhi Police has requested the general public to cooperate further and not believe or propagate rumor and misconceptions.

Drill locations, selected due to their strategic significance, are closely watched by top officials to avoid operational inefficiencies and determine key learnings for ongoing improvement in counter-terrorism response mechanisms in Delhi.