New Delhi: The government on Saturday advised all media channels to refrain from using civil defence air raid siren sounds in their programmes other than the community awareness drive, PTI reported.
In an advisory, the Directorate General Fire Service, Civil Defence and Home Guards said exercising the powers conferred under the Civil Defence Act, 1968, all media channels were requested to refrain from using civil defence air raid sirens sounds in their programmes other than for educating the community.
It is said that the routine use of sirens may likely reduce civilians' sensitivity towards the air raid sirens, and civilians may misunderstand it as a routine matter used by the media channels during the actual air raids.
The advisory came amidst the heightened tension due to the ongoing India-Pakistan conflict.
Meanwhile, Delhi Police has intensified its emergency preparedness efforts, including identifying basements that can serve as shelters during air raids and compiling a list of children and elderly residents to ensure swift evacuation, an official said on Saturday.
Instructions have been issued to all district units to identify and earmark safe shelters, especially basements of residential and commercial buildings and metro stations, where civilians can take refuge in the event of an air raid or missile attack, the official said.
A special drive has also been launched in various localities to prepare lists of vulnerable individuals, including children and elderly citizens.
Pathankot in Punjab went into alert mode on the day after explosion-like sounds were heard in the border district, with the local authorities ordering the closure of markets in the region as a precautionary measure.
After a night of bristling tension, people woke up to explosion-like sounds in Pathankot and Jalandhar districts, while air sirens rang out in Hoshiarpur, Amritsar and Ferozepur amid a sharp upturn in the military conflict between India and Pakistan.
Punjab shares a 532-km border with Pakistan.