Training helped avert panic at Uri: ASI who shot down Pakistan drones after Op Sindoor

TRaining, coordination and years of preparedness helped avoid scare when islamic republic of pakistan attempted to walk out the Uri hydroelectric force plant hours after India launched Operation Sindoor, Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Gurjeet Singh said, recounting how CISF teams responded under heavy fire and brought 250 civilians to safety.Within an hour of India striking terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as part of Operation Sindoor, CISF personnel at the Uri hydroelectric plant, located just 8-10 km from the Line of Control, were instructed to switch off lights, stay on high alert and follow the drills practised earlier.Singh, who received the DG’s commendation disc along with 18 others, was among the officers who shot down enemy drones attempting to hit the installation.“As soon as India launched Operation Sindoor and bombed the terror bases there, we received a message from the headquarters asking us to switch off lights and be on high alert,” Singh said, adding that as personnel began switching off lights, Pakistan started shelling from across the border.The hydropower plant - one of India’s most sensitive assets with residential quarters of NTPC and CISF staff - was among the first targets of Pakistan’s retaliation.Singh said extensive preparation in the preceding days prevented casualties despite the heavy shelling. “During the day (afternoon of May 6), drills had been conducted on mass evacuation of families to bunkers incase of any attack from the enemy. By around 2.30 am (May 7) when shelling started from Pakistan, our personnel on ground had already started moving families to the safe bunkers. Everything worked smoothly because of preparations in the previous days. The only difficulty was waking up families who were fast asleep and did not know what was happening,” he said, noting that only a few abandoned quarters were damaged.“The preparation was such that every family was inside the bunker. The routes to take to go towards the bunkers as decided in the mock drills were such as not a single person sustained even a small injury during the evacuation process. There was heavy shelling outside to which our forces were giving the most appropriate response,” he added.HT had reported on May 5 that following the Pahalgam attack and heightened alert levels across India, then CISF director general RS Bhatti and other officers had reviewed security at the installations and met J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha as part of a wider review of 11 sensitive locations guarded by the force.Singh said that from the third night onward, Pakistan began sending drones toward civilian houses and the Uri 1 and 2 hydroelectric projects.“Some of our personnel jammed and shot down enemy drones that had come towards the main gate of Uri 2 project. The bigger drones that were spotted high in the sky were neutralised by our sister agencies. None of their drones inflicted damage at the plant or any vital asset,” he said.A CISF statement on Tuesday said that amid intense cross-border shelling in May 2025, teams at the Uri Hydro Electric Projects displayed extraordinary courage - neutralising hostile drones, reinforcing bunkers, maintaining communication lines and evacuating 250 civilians despite high risk.The DG’s Disc, awarded to 19 personnel at CISF Headquarters in New Delhi on Monday, “stands as a tribute to their courage and steadfast commitment to the nation”.