High alert sounded in Ahmedabad malls

Ahmedabad, July 31 : High alert has been sounded across the malls in Ahmedabad that was rocked by a series of blasts on July 26.

As calls grow to beef up its intelligence apparatus, malls are taking no chances and customers are being increasingly frisked.

"After the bomb blast, we are physically frisking each and every customer that who is walking in. Besides this, in the basements where we have two-wheeler and four-wheeler parking, we are checking every component of any vehicle that is coming in. Besides video recovery of each vehicle, we are manually noting down the number in case somebody leaves a vehicle behind we would be able to trace them," said Anshu Mathur, manager of a mall.

After the blasts, police recovered more than twenty unexploded bombs in Surat sending off a scare among the residents who are giving their shopping outings a miss.

Shopkeepers in Ahmedabad have complained that they have lost business to the tune of millions over the past few days. They said that not only the bomb scare, it is the frequent frisking also that is keeping the customers at bay.

"It has affected a lot and 65-75 per cent business has gone down because of this. People are afraid to come to the public places right now," said Jagdish Purohit, a businessman.

There are worries that more bombing attacks or bomb scares could further dent the business confidence.

ANI