The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Mock drill creates flutter

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Friday, Aug 31, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Mock drill creates flutter

Staff Reporter

Two receive minor injuries as they run for cover
It was conducted by Puttaparthi police

ANANTAPUR: A mock drill conducted on ‘a bomb blast situation’ by the district police at Puttaparthi in the district on Thursday triggered panic among people at APSRTC bus station and other passers-by for a while. They heaved a sigh of relief after learning that it was a mock exercise conducted by the police.

According to the information reaching here and the police, two constables in plainclothes -- Prabhakar and Tirupathaiah -- enacted the mock exercise to give a real-life feeling to the onlookers. Two persons suffered bruises when they tried to run out of the bus station after witnessing a minor explosion near them.

To create awareness

The Puttaparthi police conducted the mock drill to create awareness among people on how to react when they experienced such circumstances and also to exhibit how the police would react to such a situation, in the backdrop of the recent twin bomb blasts at Hyderabad.

As planned, one of the constables kept three ‘bombs’ (crackers used during Deepavali) bundled together in a corner of the bus station and lighted them to create an impression of bomb explosion.

Accordingly, the bombs went off making a reasonably loud sound giving an impression that an explosion had occurred. Another constable fell down and broke a red ink bottle brought along to give an impression that he was bleeding profusely due to.

Another police team, waiting in plainclothes outside the bus station, rushed to the scene with a stretcher and lifted the ‘injured person’ into a vehicle ‘for taking him to the hospital’. The police explained to the public to be alert about unclaimed objects.

Media not informed

As the police did not inform even the media about the mock drill in advance, a couple of Telugu news channels flashed scrolling about the ‘explosion’ in Puttaparthi believing it as the real one. However, they changed the scrolling after a while terming it as mock drill.

A couple of Telugu news channels scroll news about ‘explosion’ in Puttaparthi

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