Watch: Blackout at Amritsar's Golden Temple as lights switched off for mock drill

NEW DELHI: As part of a nationwide civil defence drill, the Amritsar district administration held blackout measures in the city to ensure public safety and preparedness, according to the District Public Relations Officer (DPRO) on Wednesday."Taking utmost caution, the Amritsar district administration has again started the blackout process. Please stay at home, do not panic and do not gather outside your houses; keep the outside lights switched off," news agency ANI quoted the Amritsar DPRO as saying.Visuals showed lights being switched off at the iconic Golden Temple as well.The lights were later turned back on.Police officer Jagtar Singh told ANI, "The blackout was between 10:30 pm and 11 pm. The directions are that there should not be any lights on so that the enemy may not know there is a city here. The rehearsal is being done for the interest of the country. Some people are following the blackout, and some are not. The siren was activated and then there was a complete blackout within two minutes."Also read: 15 lakh people across nation join hands to test and enforce safety measures The blackout in Amritsar was part of a nationwide civil defence mock drill ordered by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to check emergency preparedness in case of future threats. The exercise involved scheduled blackouts at key locations across the country.Several states, including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, and Bihar, also observed similar blackouts. Cities such as Barmer, Gwalior, Surat, Shimla, and Patna participated by switching off lights at key buildings and public spaces. In Delhi, Rashtrapati Bhavan and Vijay Chowk also went dark for the drill.The nationwide preparedness drill came after the Indian armed forces launched Operation Sindoor early on Wednesday. This were retaliatory strikes on terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), in response to the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 civilians were killed.