Security at important religious places including Somnath and Dwarka temples in Gujarat have been beefed up following serial bomb blast at the temple town Bodh Gaya in Bihar. Though entire state was put under high alert within few hours of the blast at Mahabodhi temple complex, frequency of random checking have been optimized at sensitive places.
Gujarat DGP Amitabh Pathak said that superintendent of police in all districts have been instructed to enhance patrolling and monitoring. Surveillance at key religious places including Somnath and Dwarka temples in Saurashtra region as well as temples at Dakor and Ambaji in Central and Northern parts of Gujarat.
Jamnagar collector Nalin Upadhyay, who is also president of Dwarka temple told Pioneer that alerts from intelligence bureau are being taken seriously. “A 24x7 control room has already been created to monitor any possible suspicious movement within temple complex and also nearby places. 20 CCTV cameras have been monitoring every nook & corner of the Dwarka temple area,” said Upadhyay.
Sara Rizvi, Jamnagar DSP said that apart from SRP company, a dedicated police inspector was also been deployed to tackle any untoward incident. Generally the temple is put under tight security on Janmastami, Holi and Ashadhi Bij festivals as during these periods maximum number of people are visiting the temple.
Junagadh DSP Dipankar Trivedi said that two companies of SRP were already deployed at Somnath temple complex and they were asked to be extra vigilant after the Bihar bomb blasts. “A dedicated police officer of DYSP rank has also been deployed. The entire Somnath area is covered under CCTV surveillance,” said Trivedi adding that random checking near Somnath temple as well as strategic points of Prabhas Patan areas have been intensified.
Since both the religious places Somnath and Dwarka are situated on Saurashtra coast, sudden checking on coastal highways has also been initiated from Sunday night. Sources said that police have also intensified patrolling on Jam Khambhalia Road on which petroleum refineries of Reliance and Essar are situated. These important refineries are situated on way from Jamnagar to Dwarka.
“Managements of Reliance and Essar refineries have been told to restrict the entry of strange people inside their respective refinery complexes and townships,” said a senior police officer.