After hoax bomb call, malls tighten their security

NOIDA: Within a week of the Delhi high court blast and the terror threat in market places and malls in Delhi-NCR, the Great India Place mall received a hoax bomb alert on Sunday. Following this, security has been tightened in all other malls in the city. Noida residents, however, feel that a lot more needs to be done to make Noida considerably safe.The management of GIP registered a complaint regarding the bombcall, which was later discovered to be a hoax. However, this led to a lot ofpanic among those who were visiting the mall. "There has never been a terrorattack in Noida but that doesn't mean it can't happen. Security is of utmostimportance and one doesn't feel that Noida is equipped to ensure that suchincidents don't happen," said Ananya Sen, who was visiting the mall at the timeof the call.GIP officials, however, said their safety measures arefirmly in place and that customers are safe within their premises. "There are300 security personnel employed in the mall and an additional 80 house securityofficers, most of whom have a defense background. There are 87 CCTV camerasmonitoring the entire mall and 28 fire exits. In addition, we have 2 snifferdogs that monitor the mall on a regular basis," said Narender Rao, head ofsecurity.