Air raid sirens tested at PWD building in ITO; more sirens to be installed in Delhi

Delhi PWD minister Parvesh Verma on Friday said air raid sirens will be installed at multiple high-rise buildings in the national capital as the military conflict between India and Pakistan escalated. The civil defence directorate tested air raid sirens installed atop the PWD building in ITO for 10 to 15 minutes on Friday afternoon. People were also instructed to take shelter, preferably in the basement of buildings. Officials said the blaring of sirens was to test the functionality of the equipment and to remain prepared in case of any eventuality. The exercise comes just days after Delhi witnessed a civil defence mock drill as part of the nationwide Operation Abhyaas, simulating multiple hostile scenarios like air raids, multiple fire emergencies, and search and rescue operations. The Delhi PWD minister said that 40 to 50 sirens will be installed atop multi-storey and high-rise buildings from Friday night. "These are intended to serve as a crucial warning system during emergencies."

"All sirens will be centrally operated from a dedicated command centre and will be managed by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)," Verma said, adding the sirens will be sounded for five minutes in the event of an emergency. He also said the siren tested on Friday can be heard within a radius of eight kilometres. The testing comes amid heightened hostilities between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people lost their lives.