High alert at vital installations

New Delhi, July 12 (UNI) Security was stepped up at all vital installations across the country today following yesterday's serial blasts in Mumbai and Srinagar.

Home Secretary V K Duggal told reporters here after a meeting with Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and senior government officials that there will be a complete review of the security measures at the airports in a time-bound manner.

Overall security will be stepped up on a top priority basis with special equipment to detect explosives in baggage handling areas.

In Uttar Pradesh, all possible security steps have been taken, which include strict monitoring over the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).

''We are monitoring many characters, which could be suspected to be linked to last evening blasts which claimed more than 183 lives in Mumbai,'' state principal secretary (Home) S K Agarwal and DGP Bua Singh said.

A high alert had been sounded with special security plans in place at the Ram Janmbhoomi complex in Ayodhya, Kashi Vishwanath at Varanasi and Mathura, besides Taj Mahal and other communally sensitive towns. Intensive checks are being conducted at railway stations and in trains.

The state has witnessed some of the worst terrorist attacks, including the one in Ayodhya, in July last year, followed by serial bomb blasts in Sankatmochan temple and other places in Varanasi on March 7 this year.

In West Bengal, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) have been put on high alert and dog squads pressed into service at all important stations of Eastern Railway, specially at Howrah and Sealdah.

Tamil Nadu Director General of Police D Mukherjee said security was tightened in all the 650 railway stations and additional police personnel from different parts of the state mobilised and deployed in important railway stations to check passengers and their baggage.

Open line patrolling by GRP and RPF personnel, was also intensified.

A virtual security blanket has been put in place in Andhra Pradesh, particularly in the Cyberabad Police district, one of the premier IT Zones of the country.

Anti-sabotage teams and policemen, posted at vulnerable places in Cyberabad, were carrying out checks near the railway stations, bus stands and places of worship, besides checking of vehicles.

Security has also been tightened at the famous Kanaka Durga temple in Vijayawada in Krishna district, Venkateswara Swamy temple in Tirumala, and other important temples in Chittoor, Thanjavur, Kumbakonam, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts.

Security has also been tightened at Pondicherry railway station and a function to flag off the first electric train from Pondicherry to Villupuram by Minister of State for Railways R Velu this afternoon was cancelled.

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy reviewed with top officials the security measures which had been stepped up in various districts.

Red alert has also been sounded in all 19 districts in Punjab as well as in areas bordering Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

UNI TEAM MSJ AT BD1930