Yes, there was better response, second time round, to the half-hour blackout exercise conducted by the local administration on Tuesday. A large number of commercial and residential area of the city observed the basic rules laid down by the administration, to be followed on sounding of the siren.

Streetlights were switched off by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation and the Gujarat Electricity Board much before 10 pm, when the siren went off at 18 points in the city. That was the cue for domestic and business establishments to switch off outside lights and shut their windows.

A large number of residents, special youths and the volunteers of the civil defence wing of the administration assembled on the thoroughfares and asked drivers to either stop their vehicle or drive without lights on. Many local leaders roamed the streets to enforce the blackout code of conduct.

At Kothi building in Raopura, more than 500 fire fighters, first-aid workers and home guards were on the alert with their vehicles and other necessary equipment to mark their rehearsal to rush for any call. In the city areas, however, youths accompanied with home guards and the administration activists shouted at residents and shopkeepers who did not put off the lights immediately after the siren.

The difference with the June 25 blackout was stark. Unlike last time, the recently repaired sirens sounded properly, thus reaching a wider area, while the city sank into darkness primarily in the absence of street lights which were on last time.

It was almost complete in Mandvi, Panigate, Raopura, Karelibaug and around Sayajigunj. Fatehgunj Telephone Exchange lights atop and the flames of the petro-chemical areas distinguished the areas from the city remarkably.

However, Express Newsline received reports from residents of J P Road, Ajwa Road, Gotri and Sama that sirens could not be heard and blackouts, if any, were self-imposed at the appointed time.

The purpose, though, would have been defeated in the event of an actual attack as most people in these areas kept their lights on.

District chief warden Bhailalbhai Kandoi and his deputies Veersinh Bhonsale and Suresh Patil told Express Newsline after their surveys of different areas admitted that they too had received complaints about absence of siren sound in some off areas and that they would discuss the issue with the authorities concerned in the next meeting of the civil defence.