Parliament turns into fortress

Parliament House, the venue of an aborted terrorist attack a year and a half ago is being turned into a fortress with a high level meeting of parliamentarians and security experts finalising what authorities believe will be a foolproof security set up.

Once the new security set up comes into being, the gigantic red sandstone structure will not only become safe from any future terrorist attack but also against any possible nuclear or chemical attack.

While a final decision about building underground bunkers to safeguard ministers and lawmakers is still pending, one of the main features of the proposed new security set up will be the construction of 'man-traps' at all entrance gates and inside the building, into which a suspected terrorist will fall at the flick of a button as the ground under his feet will open up instantly.

The security forces present in such chambers will thus be able to capture alive any such intruder.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has proposed construction of two underground bunkers so that the lawmakers present inside both Houses of Parliament as well as in the ceremonial Central Hall, which is otherwise used as a coffee house, are taken there instantly in case of any kind of attack.

Several top dignitaries including the then vice president Krishan Kant and several ministers had a narrow escape when alleged Pakistan-based terrorists had managed to break the outer security corner and were intercepted by alert security guards while they were trying to enter the main Parliament building on December 13, 2001.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who would have been inside Parliament House on that fateful day but for a sudden adjournment of both Houses of Parliament, is believed to be secure since the DRDO is understood to have already constructed an underground bunker under his 7 Race Course Road residence.

A joint meeting of parliamentarians and security experts, chaired by the Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker P.M. Sayeed, on Wednesday also finalised installation of hi-tech surveillance and electronic gadgets at all entrance and main gates.

While installation of some of these gadgets is already underway, about 90 per cent of the entire work will be finished by this year-end.

A section of Talkatora Road, that runs between the main Parliament House building and the Parliament House Annexe will be permanently closed for traffic from December 31.

According to sources, while the possibility of another terrorist attack was the main concern at the meeting, safety aspects in case of a nuclear, chemical or biological attack was also discussed in great details.

Under the new system being implemented for screening regular visitors, the practice of issuing and checking entry passes manually will be done away with and replaced by a machine generated entry pass system so as to make impersonation and duplication difficult.

Parking for most of the visitors has already been shifted to outside the main building while a branch of a bank and a mart was closed down and demolished after December 13 attack due to their close proximity with the Parliament House.