HYDERABAD: The 2007 twin blasts in Hyderabad had laid bare the vulnerability of commercial complexes and public places to terrorist attacks. There were no security measures in place at all popular places including Gokul Chat and Lumbini Park back then. Soon after the blasts, however, security personnel armed with metal detectors, and door frame metal detectors (DFMD) became a common site in the city. People were frisked at entrances of public places and complexes. But eleven years later, the city is back to square one, or almost so.
At risk
Take for instance Padmavati Plaza in Kukatpally. The structure has over 120 commercial shops in its four-floor building but there isn’t a single DFMD at its four primary entry points. The complex registers a footfall of almost 1,000 during the morning and evening hours, is at continuous risk of security breach.
The single security guard who mans the entire building is, on most of the occasions, armed with only a baton.
Even at the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) run Maithrivanam in Ameerpet, close to 250 commercial establishments are functioning with a majority being training centres. It’s only DFMD, placed at the entrance, has not been functional for three years now. People walk in and walk out of the complex without being checked at any point. The only saving grace for the building are the CCTV cameras.
“Metal detectors and DFMD have been non-functional for some time now,” informed Srinivas Pranav, a representative from HMDA when asked. When questioned about the time since it has been dysfunctional, he gave evasive replies but claimed that “new DFMDs have been sanctioned and will be replaced soon.”
Similar is the case with other complexes housing government departments, be it GHMC headquarters, Swarna Jayanthi complex, BRKR Bhavan, Aditya Trade centre or the NTR ghat, where a dysfunctional DFMD sits like a body of shame on the State government.
Syed Rahim, one of the victims who lost his left eye in the blast, said: “Nothing much has changed over the past eleven years. The crowd in Dilsukhnagar or Gokul Chat still has no traffic management whatsoever. The autos, still form a cluster, and the congested roads in the area is a big scare to this day. Traffic management should take measures to make people feel safe,” he said.