Security onus on private establishments: Maha govt

Squarely placing the onus of maintaining security on the commercial establishments themselves, the Maharashtra state government has now formalised an order that makes it mandatory for commercial establishments like malls, mulitplexes and other big establishments to submit their security plans to the state government.

In case the plans are not submitted, the state government can cancel the licences of these establishments and shut them down.

Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil asked officials in a meeting on Tuesday to cancel licences of establishments that did not submit their security plans they have put in place to prevent attacks like the one that happened in a Pune eatery that has claimed ten lives so far.

Patil said this during a high level security meeting convened at Mantralaya in Mumbai, where senior police and state home department officials were discussing how to thwart further terror attacks.

Sources said that in the meeting it was decided that since the police personnel cannot be deployed in every location where there is a perceived threat, the establishments concerned should themselves have proper security to ensure that such attacks do not take place. " In order to ensure that there are no loopholes in the private security measures employed by these businesses it has been decided that the plans for the security would be submitted to the state who would vet the measures and these would be put in place only after they are approved. Those who don't submit their plans wont have their licences revoked," Said a senior home department official.

Meanwhile in a related development the state has also asked the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation to get sophisticated vehicle scanners installed at the Bandra- Worli Sea link to ensure that no bomb laden vehicle is employed to blow up the bridge. The state has apparently asked MSRDC to install the scanners on both ends of the bridge within a month. The scanners would cost Rs 50 crores and would have to be imported, the installation of the scanners would significantly delay commuters who travel on the bridge as it would take at least a minute to check each vehicle.