New Delhi [India], May 9 (ANI): The Directorate of Civil Defence, under the Delhi government, carried out the testing of air raid sirens at the PWD (Public Works Department) headquarters, located at ITO, on Friday.

Delhi Minister Parvesh Verma was also present at the spot during the testing of the air raid sirens.

Speaking to reporters, Verma emphasised the preparations of the NCT (National Capital Territory) government, stating that similar 40-50 sirens will be installed at high-rise buildings in Delhi in 1-2 days, adding that these sirens have a range of 8 kilometres.

Delhi Minister further highlighted that control of these sirens is under National Disaster Management and would be controlled by a single command centre.

Verma stated, 'The work of installing sirens in Delhi has started. Sirens will be installed on all the high-rise buildings in Delhi. Its range is 8 kilometres. Starting tonight, 40-50 more sirens will be installed in high-rise buildings in Delhi. We will run it in case of any emergency. We can run it from a single command centre... If in case of emergency, these sirens will run for around 5 minutes... Control of this will be under National Disaster Management.'

'As PWD's building is high rise building, hence, today it is installed here. From tonight, 40-50 similar sirens will be installed in high-rise buildings. The installation work will be completed under 1-2 days. Delhi government is ready for any order of Centre. All our forces are ready,' he added.

Earlier, the District Magistrate of Central Delhi said in a statement that the Directorate of Civil Defence, under the Government of National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, will carry out testing of air raid sirens at the PWD Headquarters, ITO.

These exercises are being conducted as part of routine preparedness measures.

The District Magistrate (Central), G Sudhakar, has urged the public to remain calm and not to be alarmed when they hear the sirens. Authorities have also requested that adequate publicity be carried out through social and electronic media platforms to inform residents and prevent confusion.

The District Administration has informed key officials across departments, including the Lieutenant Governor, Chief Minister, Cabinet Ministers, Chief Secretary, and the Commissioner of Police, Delhi, about the exercise. Coordination has also been established with the Directorate of Information & Publicity to amplify public awareness regarding the test.

Such exercises are part of periodic drills conducted by civil defence agencies to ensure preparedness for emergencies and to check the functioning of critical alert systems.

Earlier on Thursday, the Indian Army had shot down more than 50 Pakistani drones during a large-scale counter-drone operation along the LoC and International Border (IB), sources told ANI.

The Indian Armed Forces also successfully neutralised Pakistan military's attempts at a large-scale drone and missile attack on multiple Indian military installations across Northern and Western India during the night of May 7-8 and an Air Defence system at Lahore was neutralised.

The Pakistani attack followed India's 'Operation Sindoor' on May 7, wherein Indian forces conducted missile strikes on nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. India said that these strikes targeted terrorist infrastructure linked to groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, in retaliation for the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians. (ANI)