Haryana is set to hold mock and blackout drills across all 20 districts this evening, as per the Home Ministry's guidelines on 'Operation Abhyas'.

The drill will begin with a siren sound and include exercises like evacuation, response coordination, followed by full blackout, officials said.

Residents have been urged to switch off all lights and remain indoors as part of the drive.

Shyamal Misra, Chief Executive Officer, Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), on Tuesday, issued directives to expedite the resolution of issues pertaining to land acquisition, missing links, compensations, and demarcations to fast-track the infrastructure development works being taken up by the Authority in Gurugram.

Mishra issued direction while chairing the 15th coordination meeting on Tuesday evening in the GMDA office.

Various works pertaining to the construction of roads and the laying of master services such as water supply, drainage networks, sewer networks, etc., are being carried out by GMDA in the areas under its jurisdiction.

To ensure prompt progress of the infrastructure development works being undertaken, the required measures to resolve the on-ground issues are being taken up by GMDA on priority with the concerned departments.

The GMDA CEO outlined that any hindrances in such projects must be resolved at the earliest, for the benefit of the public at large.

Gurugram Police have returned 609 mobile phones that were lost or stolen from January to April 30 this year, to their owners on Tuesday, police said. The estimated value of these mobile phones is around Rs 1.52 crore.

"Our cyber cell teams of different zones have tracked these mobile phones and recovered 609 of these handsets. The recoveries also include costly high-end mobile phones. The phones were either stolen or lost in various parts of the city," Dr Arpit Jain, DCP (headquarters), said.

In view of the inconvenience caused to mobile phone users due to the loss of their sets, the Gurugram Police Commissioner had directed the police to immediately lodge a non-cognizable offence report in such cases and return the phones to the owners after finding help from technical support.

"As per the instructions of the Commissioner of Police, Gurugram Police is doing a commendable job of finding and recovering people's lost mobile phones with the help of the CEIR (Central-Equipment-Identity-Register) portal and police technology," he said. "For most people, mobile phones are more important than their monetary value due to saved data, including contacts, passwords, bank details, and personal information. Police have made it a priority to trace lost or stolen phones with the help of technology," he added.

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, on Tuesday, reviewed the progress of eight Namo Bharat corridor projects in the National Capital Region (NCR) under which three corridors are currently under implementation in first phase, officials said.

These are Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut (82 km), Delhi-Gurugram-Shahjahanpur-Neemrana-Behror (SNB) (105 km) and Delhi-Panipat-Karnal (136 km) routes.

During the meeting, the Chief Minister emphasised the transformative potential of the Namo Bharat corridors (Regional Rapid Transit System) in easing traffic congestion, boosting regional connectivity, and enhancing economic development across urban and semi-urban areas of the state.

In the second phase of the Old Gurugram Metro project, five underpasses will be constructed in the city by the Gurugram Metro Rail Limited (GMRL), officials said on Tuesday.

The detailed project report (DPR) of the underpasses will now be prepared by GMRL.

The underpasses are to be built at Sector-3A/4/5 Chowk near Railway Road along Sector-5 junction to Sheetla Mata Road (one-way), Bajghera Road, along Sector-5 (one way) to Krishna Chowk, Rejangla Chowk, Palam Vihar Road to Udyog Vihar to Old Delhi Road, and Palam Vihar Road Junction.

"The estimated cost of construction of all five underpasses is around Rs 350 crore. With their construction, the old city will get relief from traffic jams. At the same time, the flyover at Umang Bhardwaj Chowk is to be constructed by NHAI," an official said.

In a major crackdown against wrong-side driving, the Gurugram Traffic Police have issued 19,146 challans worth Rs 99.42 lakh against traffic violators last month, police said on Saturday.

While revealing data, the traffic police officials said, as per the direction of Commissioner of Police Gurugram, Vikas Arora, the traffic police took necessary action against those driving on the wrong side.

"To ensure traffic rules, the Gurugram traffic police took effective action and fined 19,146 drivers who drive in the wrong direction, which mainly includes places like National Highway-48 near Rajiv Chowk, Gurugram-Faridabad Road, CRPF Chowk towards Sheetla Colony, and Gurugram-Sohna Road," Rajesh Mohan, DCP (Traffic), said.

"To take effective action against those driving on the wrong side, Gurugram Police conducted special campaigns and regularly checked vehicles at various places. During checking, drivers found driving in the wrong direction were challaned as per the Motor Vehicle Act, the DCP added.

A brief but intense spell of rain on Friday morning brought Gurugram to a halt, exposing the hollow claims of pre-monsoon preparedness by the district administration, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), and other civic agencies.

The downpour, which began around 5 a.m. and intensified within 15 minutes, led to severe waterlogging across the city.

Soon, key roads and residential areas were submerged, some under 3-4 feet of water, disrupting both vehicular and pedestrian movement. Trees were uprooted in several areas, causing power outages and adding to the chaos.

Traffic was thrown out of gear during the morning rush hour, with police struggling to manage the flow in knee-deep water. Movement on the Delhi-Jaipur-Mumbai highway was also severely affected.

A massive fire broke out in the slums and scrap area of Sector 102 in Gurugram in around 3.30 a.m. on Wednesday, gutting dozens of huts and leaving many residents homeless, fire officials said.

The blaze spread rapidly, reducing several slum dwellings to ashes and destroying the belongings inside.

Fire tenders from Bhim Nagar, Sector 37 (Udyog Vihar), Sector 29, and Pataudi were rushed to the spot. Firefighters managed to contain the fire before it could spread to adjacent settlements.

“There were around 150 huts in the area, of which 40 to 50 were destroyed. About 10 fire tenders were deployed,” said Fire Officer Narender, adding that the fire was brought under control by 7 a.m.

The Gurugram district administration is in action mode to tackle waterlogging problem in the city, officials said on Tuesday.

To take stock of the arrangements made by the Municipal Corporation Gurugram (MCG), National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) to provide relief to the people, Gurugram Deputy Commissioner Ajay Kumar visited the critical points of waterlogging and inspected the works related to drainage.

During this, officials of the MCG and GMDA were also present.

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Saturday directed officials of the Forest Department to build maximum check dams in hilly terrains to conserve rainwater.

“This will also help retain the groundwater level,” the Chief Minister, reviewing projects of various departments, including the Home, Revenue, Environment, Forest and Wildlife and Transport, related to ‘CM Announcements’.

He will review the remaining departments on April 29, an official statement said. Saini told officials not to compromise on quality at any cost in the construction of check dams. He also directed to check the current condition of all the old check dams and repair them.