NEW DELHI, Aug 7: Security of Parliament, which was targeted by terrorists 13 years back, is set to be strengthened further with a special committee being set up today to suggest measures for it within a month.
The committee, formed by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, will be headed by former Union Home Secretary R K Singh and will include former Rajasthan DGP Harish Chandra Meena and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh, who are also BJP members in Lok Sabha.
Sources said Joint Secretary (Security) of Lok Sabha Secretariat will be the member secretary of the panel, which has been described as ‘ad hoc’.
The committee has been asked to give its report within one month after making a comprehensive review of the existing security set-up and suggest measures to further strengthen it.
The sources said the committee would give suggestions on training, adequacy of manpower and other relevant issues. It would also review all security equipments installed and future projections for further strengthening security.
It would also suggest measures to improve coordination among relevant agencies.
The committee has also been tasked to recommend measures for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the Watch and Ward, central reserve forces and Delhi Police deployed in the Parliament House precincts.
While R K Singh retired as Home Secretary last year, Satya Pal Singh superannuated as Police Commissioner of Mumbai a few months before the elections. Meena took premature retirement this year to fight the polls.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari has given his no objection to the committee which comprises only Lok Sabha members.
On December 13, 2001, five terrorists in a white Ambassador car with a red beacon had stormed the Parliament complex. All the terrorists were killed in a gunfight with security forces.
After that, security of the complex was overhauled at an estimated Rs 100 crore with hi-tech gadgets like boom barriers and tyre busters being installed.
In the previous Lok Sabha, a committee on security in Parliament complex, headed by then Deputy Speaker Karia Munda, was set up in the aftermath of the pepper spray attack inside Lok Sabha by a Congress MP that sparked massive outrage.
This committee had examined security-related matters, which also included ways to prevent bringing of dangerous and life-threatening material into the chamber of the House by the Members of Parliament themselves. (PTI)
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