Mysuru: As civil defence drills gain urgency across the country amid the ongoing India-Pakistan conflict, Mysuru’s Mock Drill was held at the Palace premises last evening.

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time the city has tested its readiness under threat. Mysore had undertaken similar preparedness measures 82 years ago — a blast from the past.

In September 1943, at the height of World War II, the then ARP (Air Raid Precautions) Controller B.S. Raghavendra Rao issued a public notice announcing siren tests across the city.

The notice stated: “The public are hereby informed that siren tests will be conducted in Mysore City on every first and third Saturdays of the month, commencing from the 4th instant. The Test Warning Signal (uninterrupted blast for one minute followed by a wailing sound for two minutes) will be given at 3 pm, and the ‘Raiders Passed’ Signal (uninterrupted blast for two minutes) will be sounded at 3.05 pm. The first siren test will be on Saturday, the 4th of September, 1943, at 3 pm and will last for 5 minutes. The public need not take any action during the above siren tests.”

This relic from wartime Mysore reflects the city’s long-standing legacy of civil vigilance and emergency preparedness.

Coming to yesterday’s Mock Drill at the Palace premises, Deputy Commissioner G. Lakshmikanth Reddy informed Star of Mysore that only the Fire Department’s siren was used during the exercise, not the historic ARP siren, to avoid triggering panic among the public.

Though there were initial plans to sound sirens in multiple areas of city, officials ultimately decided to restrict the siren use to Palace premises only.