Chandigarh, Feb. 4 -- Last week, when schools were to reopen after a three-day break following Republic Day celebrations, panic gripped the city as at least 30 schools received bomb threat emails, forcing parents to pick up their wards just minutes after dropping them off for the day.

Though school authorities responded to the best of their abilities - alerting the police and informing the parents to take necessary steps - the whole exercise proved to be a chaotic affair as thousands of parents clogged key arteries even as emergency vehicles, including bomb squads, raced against time to get to the spot.

In some cases, students continued to remain on campus either due to a delay on the parents' part, or as schools decided to let only the...