'Govt taking Golden Temple threat seriously'

Patiala, Oct 7: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today said his government was taking no chances about security of the Golden Temple even though the recent threat to the holiest Sikh shrine appeared to be 'the handiwork of a crazy mind.' ''We are taking it very serious though it seems a creation of some mad man,'' Capt Singh said here when asked about letter threatening that Lashkar-e-Toiba militants were planning to blow up the Golden Temple.

He said that the letter was apparently posted from Phagwara and the police was trying to trace those behind the anonymous letter to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).

''We have deployed security personnel outside the complex and if SGPC wants to have security inside the complex, we are ready to provide it security personnel in plainclothes,'' he added.

Elaborating upon the security measures, the Chief Minister said the government had installed many CCTV cameras on the entry and exit points of the temple and if needed, they would install these inside the complex as well.

Already, round-the-clock vigilance was being maintained around the Golden Temple, he said.

However, the letter, which had declared that the LeT attack on Golden temple would take place on October 6, along with other prominent public places including the Railway Station and the airport, was most likely to be just a ''mischief'', he said.

Taking a serious view of the threat, the SGPC had yesterday said it will setup its own control room equipped with latest electronic gadgets and approach NRIs Sikhs for the safety of Golden Temple in wake of the militant's threat.

UNI