Mock drills in Chandigarh keep police on toes

The Operation Cell of Chandigarh Police along with National Security Guard (NSG) commandos and Army personnel from Chandimandir carried out a counter terror exercises at various locations in Chandigarh on Friday.

Call of terrorists and bomb threats made at separate intervals kept the police, fire, and health departments on edge throughout the day.

The mock drills were conducted to assess the preparedness of the police force and other agencies in emergency situations. Various units, including the Bomb Disposal Squad, were dispatched to sites.

The exercises took place at the Inter State Bus Terminus, Sector 43, Sector 15/11 underpass, Sukhna Lake, District Court, Sector 43, at a hotel in Sector 17 and Haryana Secretariat.

The police cordoned off the areas in the city along with other agencies and carried out the necessary procedures.

Army successfully neutralised a dummy terrorist hiding in the island area of the Sukhna Lake and rescued two hostages.

Similarly, NSG commandos and a team of the Operation Cell neutralised a terrorist at a hotel. Initially, people at the spots were clueless, but soon they realised that these were mock drills.

A remote operated robot was used during the exercise to safely carry artificial bomb up to a vehicle that could further take it secluded place for safe disposal. The drills were aimed at evaluating the response time of different police wings, said an official of the Police Department.