Major Media Outlets Share Old Document As List Of Civil Defence Districts Where Mock Drills Will Be Conducted

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday announced that mock drills will be held on May 7 at 244 civil defence districts — selected based on strategic importance and vulnerability assessments —  to check preparedness against threats as security has been tightened across the country following the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam. 

Following the announcement, major media organisations such as Times Now, Hindustan Times, News18 and senior journalist Rahul Shivshankar took to X and published reports, sharing what appears to be an MHA document purportedly listing out all the 244 districts where the drills, reportedly the first since 1971, will be conducted.

Fact Check

Newschecker noticed that the viral MHA document, titled “Revised List Of Civil Defence Districts…,” was dated September 29, 2005, and October 31, 2005. Moreover, Hyderabad is now a district in the state of Telangana, founded in 2014 after separating from Andhra Pradesh, indicating that the list was old and is mistakenly being circulated.

At the end of the document, the number of civil defence districts was pegged at 259, contradicting the figure of 244 that was stated across reports on the mock drills to be held across the country.

We traced the viral document to this circular from the Directorate General of Civil Defence (under the MHA), addressed to the concerned civil defence officers of all states and UTs, dated March 2, 2010, saying that since 100 selected multi-hazard prone districts were included for strengthening the civil defence set up as per a central scheme, they [the officers] were required to furnish the relevant details at the earliest.

Newschecker then reached out to the ADG Civil Defence (Communication), who confirmed that the viral list, naming 259 districts and towns, was an old document, while sharing with us the correct list of 244 districts.

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Conclusion

A document being circulated by leading media outlets as the list of 244 civil defence districts where mock drills will be held on May 7 was found to be old.