Jaisalmer: The entire city of Jaisalmer was plunged in darkness as soon as evening fell. The administration Friday decided to impose a 12-hour blackout, which was implemented from 6 pm, a day after drones from Pakistan entered Jaisalmer late Thursday night but were thwarted by the Indian air defence system.
The streets and roads of Jaisalmer are deserted. The few vehicles on the streets are moving without headlights. It is so dark that even the faces of people are not discernible. Till Thursday, the blackout was being enforced in the late hours, but after the attempted drone attack by Pakistan, the administration decided to impose a blackout from sunset to sunrise.
Just parts of the city are lit up by moonlight. People have even covered the electricity meters installed outside their homes with tape and clothes so the blinking lights are not visible.
The police are patrolling and urging people to switch off their lights. All the markets of Jaisalmer were closed by 5 pm. In hotels, guests are using flashlights to navigate the corridors.
At around 8.30 pm Friday, suspected drone attacks were again attempted by Pakistan in Jaisalmer, according to local residents, but foiled. “Very loud explosions were heard. The explosions took place two kilometres away from my house but the sound reached my house,” Om Prakash, a resident of Pokhran—where India conducted nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998—told ThePrint.
A loud siren started ringing and the city became pitch black. But there is no official confirmation of the suspected drone attacks so far.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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