Kerala - Kochi   

Uneasy calm at Taj Hotel

KOCHI: Anxious guests enquiring about security arrangements… calls from various nations and relatives of guests who are currently in Kochi, enquiring about the safety of their people…Then there were calls from well-wishers declaring their solidarity and sympathy and shock over the incidents.

The phones of senior officials of the Taj Group of Hotels in Kerala kept on ringing from the early hours of Thursday as the visuals and news of Taj Mumbai coming under terror attacks poured in. An uneasy calm filled the corridors of the hotel though business went on as usual.

With the news coming in that the terrorists came in boats to the Mumbai hotel, the hotel closed the gates of Taj Malabar and Residency that opened to the Kochi backwaters.

Every hotel belonging to the group in Kerala stepped up security arrangements on its own and took all possible measures to ensure the safety of the guests, hotel sources said.

The group owns nine hotels in Kerala and a few of them have frontages facing water bodies.

On Wednesday, it was Hotel Day at Taj Residency and most of the participants of the day’s celebrations went to bed unaware of the situation that was unfolding in their Mumbai establishment. They were shocked to receive the news that some of their colleagues were killed in the incidents.

Additional guards have been posted to observe the movement of people on the riverside. The movement of every person who walks into the hotel will be monitored as part of the security measures and the security cover reinforced, sources said.

“We are working closely with the authorities and taking necessary protection in our hotels across the country,” said T. Damu, vice-president, Taj Group of Hotels.

The Trident Hotel in Willingdon Island here started checking the vehicles that enter the premises from Thursday morning and this is the standard practice that is followed when the security threat level goes up, said Sharad Datta, general manager of the hotel.

The vigilance system has been put on alert and CCTVs will be installed in the hotel, he said.

A thick blanket of security cover has been thrown over the Race Village set up for the Volvo Ocean Race at Willingdon Island.

The authorities plan to increase the security cover further in the wake of the Mumbai developments.

The movement of every person who reaches the island will be tracked and more CCTVs will be installed for the purpose, said N. Ramachandran, Chairman, Cochin Port Trust. No baggage will be permitted inside the village and everyone will be thoroughly frisked by security personnel.

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