Mumbai turns into a fortress

MUMBAI: The city police are leaving no room for laxity after Wednesday’s blasts. Additional reserve police forces have been called in for security bandobast. A senior police officer claims the police have taken every step to counter any unprecedented situation arising after the blasts.
The police say that various guidelines that were put in place after the 26/11 terror attacks helped achieve greater coordination and clarity.Learning from the past, the police sounded the BMC control room soon after the blast and asked all government hospitals to prepare for emergencies. The coast guard, navy, NSG and Force One were on standby.
A team of army commandos rushed to the city police head office just after the blasts to assist in the event of any terror attack. The team was stationed at the police headquarter till early on Thursday. The Quick Response Team (QRT), six units of the Bomb Disposal and Detection Squad, Right Control Police of city police force were also asked to be on alert. The officers said that along with regular deployment of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) companies, they had asked for four more companies. Each blast site was secured by a SRPF company. This apart, they were also deployed for VVIP bandobast duty and kept on standby. Additional commissioner of police (administration) S P Yadav, who was in-charge of the control room, said, “We have enough men to tackle any kind of situation. All of our specialized forces are on high alert. We had excellent coordination with other agencies, which helped us to avoid chaos at the hospital after the blast.” An officer said that the way other agencies responded to their call immediately after the blasts was “very satisfactory”.
“We alerted all the emergency services, coast guard and the navy about the blast. We asked all the public transport systems to issue an alert to the passengers,” said the officer. Even taxi unions, auto unions and BEST were asked to inform drivers registered with them to keep an eye on suspicious baggages. The railways, too, were asked to keep alerting passengers about suspicious, unattended articles. Absence of any police nakabandi in the city after the blast, the officer explained, was routine as they are now busy with search and combing operations.
Rail, air security beefed up after blasts
A day after three blasts shook the city, security has been stepped up at the airports and railway stations. Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel were summoned on duty and security checks were intensified at the airports. A red alert was declared following instructions from the ministry of home affairs. CISF claimed they are frisking people after they enter the terminal buildings at both domestic and international airports. The Government Railway Police (GRP) has cancelled leaves of its personnel and is co-ordinating with the RPF in monitoring CCTV footage at station premises and identifying suspicious people. CR commuters can dial 1275, while WR passengers can call 1276 emergency numbers for any security related issues.
Post-blasts, Mumbaikars extra cautious
Animesh Goswami, a Goregaon (W) resident, checked the garbage bin of his housing society for explosives before leaving home to board the train in Dadar on Thursday. An extra-cautious Sunayan Raje, a Nerul resident, first checked the area below his seat for unattended objects while boarding a CST-bound train. After alighting at CST, he ensured that he left the station premise quickly. On Thursday morning, exactly 15 hours after 13/7, Mumbaikars were back on the roads and trains. But fear had gripped Mumbaikars as the number of commuters had dipped.