CM's convoy takes a risky route

A garbage vat that could easily hide a bomb or two gunmen. Abandoned vehicles that could hide explosives. A clutter of tyre and vehicle repair shops where strangers could easily mingle and vanish. Believe it or not, this is the stretch chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee passes every single day on his way to work and back.
The CM, who has Z+ security cover, never gave any of these potential threats' a thought and neither, apparently, did his securitymen.It took the Maoist ambush on Bhattacharjee's convoy at Salboni and the Mumbai terrorist attacks to jolt Kolkata Police's Special Branch (SB) into action.
SB sleuths trawled the entire stretch that the CM takes every day from his Palm Avenue residence to Alimuddin Street and Writers' Buildings, and identified potential hazards'.
A letter marked secret' was sent to Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), outlining immediate measures needed to remove these obstacles. SB deputy commissioner Parthasarathi Ghosh said these steps were necessary to provide foolproof security to Bhattacharjee. Several brainstorming sessions followed at the civic headquarters and KMC was given a list of must-dos on December 1.
It has to ensure that garbage vats and dustbins along the route are cleared twice a day before 7 am and 5 pm. KMC's parking department has been told to remove all unauthorized parking lots on the stretch. Scrap vehicles lying at
Mullickbazar and Syed Amir Ali Avenue, along with shops selling second-hand tyres and motor spare parts that encroach the pavement on one flank of AJC
Bose Road near Mullickbazar, have to be removed.
Branches hanging over AJC Bose Road are also a security hazard, the Special Branch has told KMC, and asked them to be trimmed immediately. The SB team also wants shanties under the western and eastern slopes of AJC Bose Road flyover removed. Advertisements or hoardings on the flyover's pillars should be refitted in such a manner that nothing can be concealed behind them, the SB has said.
A TOI team toured the CM's routes on Monday and found that vats, tea stalls and scrap shops have made things difficult for security personnel.
For instance, a huge vat, a refrigerator repair workshop and a scrap newspaper shop are located barely 100 metres from Bhattacharjee's residence. Unauthorized parking lots dot Syed Amir Ali Avenue, a part of which is occupied by tyre repairing shops.
Also, several branches of at least half a dozen tall trees on AJC Bose Road need trimming.
According to a senior KMC official, various civic department heads have been asked to take adequate measures to ensure the CM's safety. However, according to an official of the KMC's conservancy department, it would be an uphill task to remove the tyre repair shops dotting AJC Bose Road near Mullickbazar and parts of Syed Amir Ali Avenue. "We can at best tell them to relocate their business," he official said.