High security in place for Parliament session

New Delhi, Feb 22: Under the shadow of the Panipat blasts, security agencies in the Capital have mounted the 'most stringent cover' for the Budget Session of Parliament which begins on Feb 23.

Sanitisation of Parliament and its periphery has been done ''more than twice'' with it expected one more time. No chances are being taken in view of the February 19 twin blasts in Panipat, police officials said on the condition of anonymity.

On the 'special steps' taken, a senior police official said, ''While the normal security drill is all the same everytime, except for the frequency of checks and regularity in patrolling this time, we are trying to leave nothing to chance and doing our every bit.'' However, the stress this time has been on ''verification of security personnel on duty'', which was being done to prevent any breach in the security apparatus, he said.

''More importantly this would keep at bay any 'sympathisers' of terror elements wanting to sneak through the chinks in the 'system'.'' A strict vigil is being kept on all personnel on duty, irrespective of rank and file, he added.

Another official, involved in parliament security, on condition on anonymity, said the key word this time in the wake of intelligence inputs of ''threats in Delhi'' was patrolling.

The duration between two successive patrolling has been enhanced three-fold and number of personnel on each patrol increased to nearly one-and-a-half times. ''This was being done to strengthen individual capacity of each patrol which could tackle exigencies independently and for long before enforcements could arrive,'' said the official.

Even as the Parliament area being a VIP one itself commands maximum attention, additional force, as always, have been put on duty which would reduce ''metre ratio deployment'' of security personnel, he added.

Another senior police official, who refused to be quoted, said plainclothes security personnel are another feature of consequence during this session, as it comes hardly days after the Panipat blasts. ''This has been done as intelligence reports have warned of ''impending attacks'' in the Capital.'' For this, the entire periphery of the Parliament and adjoining areas would be packed with security personnel in civilian dress.

''However, they would be heavily armed but would be hardly discernible.'' Above all this, an internal alert, which is the normal practice at all VIP gatherings, has been sounded which makes the area 'almost banned' for those not on the list of ''allowed guests'', he added.

UNI