Date:30/08/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/08/30/stories/2007083060860600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Cameras to monitor Secretariat

M. Malleswara Rao

-PHOTO: P. V. Sivakumar

On alert: Police personnel checking vehicles before letting them into the Secretariat in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

HYDERABAD: The bomb blasts and bomb scares in Hyderabad have forced the Government to seriously consider a plan, confined to files so far, to provide better security to the Secretariat, the seat of the administration.

As part of the plan, 22 surveillance cameras are to be installed, two at each of the main-gates facing Hussainsagar and Birla Mandir, and the rest at vulnerable points around the premises.

The plan provides for construction of fortified bunkers/morchas at the main-gates to enable the police to effectively return fire from trenches in the event of terrorists targeting the premises.

The plan envisages installation of flood-lights within and around the premises to ensure proper visibility during nights and deployment of additional forces. On duty at present are only 60 uniformed men.

“We have erected solar fencing around the Secretariat and electronic security system with boom barriers at Hussainsagar main-gate,” a senior security official said. Over 2,000 people visit the Secretariat every day.

He said men with light machine guns could also be positioned on the portico, the “C” block where the Chief Minister’s office is located. Officials are of the view that the bomb that went off at Lumbini Park, hardly 100 metres from the main-gate where the police posse is on watch round the clock, clearly indicated escalated risks.

Meanwhile, Secretariat staff turned restive over the frisking.

They relented only when the AP Secretariat Employees’ Association explained at a meeting on Tuesday that the exercise was meant for their safety.