Maharashtra has been put on high alert with security arrangements being stepped up in courts, sensitive areas and Ganesh pandals across the State following the blast in Delhi.
“We need to take utmost care and cooperate with security agencies. Instructions have been given to the police to make special security arrangements for all sensitive locations, especially courts,” Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan told a press conference here on Wednesday.
Mr. Chavan held a high-level meeting of the Deputy Chief Minister, the Home Minister and top police officials to review security measures in Mumbai and in the State in the aftermath of the terror attack in the capital.
Faced with tough questions on the progress of the July 13 bombings in Mumbai, the Chief Minister maintained that the probe was on the right track. “The police have received information from certain persons they have detained. However, the names of these persons have not been revealed. Some are on the radar.”
He denied a remark from the press that the Delhi blasts took place because of the shroud of secrecy around the 13/7 probe. “All efforts are being made to nab the perpetrators. The ultimate objective is to catch the culprits.”
Mr. Chavan made an appeal to the people not to carry bags to Ganesh pandals and to report unclaimed baggage to the police. He also advised staggering immersions processions on Sunday, the day of ‘Ganesh visarjan'.
Home Minister R.R. Patil said the police had been directed to hire wireless surveillance cameras with immediate effect. He said the entire police force had been told to be on high alert. A team of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad might visit Delhi at a later point, he said.
“This is the second blast [in the Delhi High Court] in four months. So, there is a clear intention of targeting the court, which has given verdicts in terror cases,” Mr. Patil remarked.
Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Umesh Chandra Sarangi said: “We sent out alerts to all our units to take extra care of vulnerable locations and crowded places.”
Wednesday's incident once again brought to the fore the government's plan to install 5,000 CCTV cameras in Mumbai.
