The NTR Gardens on the NTR Marg Road which remained closed for nearly 10 days after the twin blasts in Dilsukhnagar on February 21, were opened for the general public on Sunday, only after tightening the security arrangements.
However, Lumbini Park and Lumbini Laserium will remain closed for another three to four days and would be reopened only after ensuring necessary security arrangements, according to the HMDA member environment, R P Khajuria. He also informed that henceforth, visitors will not be allowed to take eatable items, metal objects, bottles, big handbags, and other personal belongings into the gardens, as a part of security measures. However, cell phones, cameras, lady hand-bags will be allowed. A separate cloak room has been established at the garden where the visitors can deposit their belongings, before entering inside.
Speaking to reporters, Khajuria along with central zone DCP, V B Kamalahasan Reddy and Buddha Purnima Project (BPA), OSD, P Rajender Reddy said that after the twin blasts in Dilsukhnagar, the HMDA has thoroughly reviewed security arrangements for the last one week at NTR Gardens, Lumbini Park and Lumbini Laserium as 7,000 to 10,000 visitors throng these parks every day. “People may have faced inconvenience, but we are not willing to take any chance. We are working closely even on minute security arrangements with the support and inputs from the police department,” informed Khajuria.
Throwing some light on the kind of arrangements that have been made, Khajuria said, “Three-door frame metal detectors have been installed at the garden along with hand-held metal detectors for frisking of the visitors. The CC cameras have been installed at vantage points and for the first time a control room has been established for surveillance. Since the door frame metal detectors are not functioning properly, new ones have been rented and installed.” He further said that a holistic view of Lumbini park has been taken into consideration before installing two-door frame metal detectors at the entrance gate and CC cameras at vantage points. According to him, there is also a proposal to have a separate entry to the parking lot at Lumbini Park.
As per the request of the HMDA, the police has trained about 150 security personnel who were already working at these parks on how to frisk visitors, check baggage, etc. The DCP has asked shopping malls, cinema theatres, big restaurants and other popular places to increase security measures with the help of security gadgets and personnel.
The police would initially give two warnings to beef up security and in case of negligence on the part of the management, severe action would be taken --- including cancellation of their licences.