MUMBAI: The renewed security threat in wake of the tension on the border might force the budget session of the Maharashtra legislature to be curtailed, sources have said.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis called a meeting of all party leaders in the assembly on Wednesday evening after both the houses were adjourned. Mumbai police commissioner Subodh Jaiswal and DGP Datta Padsalgikar too attended the meeting.
Various aspects of the renewed threat perception in Mumbai and Maharashtra were discussed at the meeting after which CM proposed curtailment of the already short session. Though any decision wasn’t made at the meeting, the session is likely to end after the houses approve the vote on account for first four months of the next fiscal year, sources said.
Assembly session leads to a heavy concentration of VVIPs in the city. This, in turn, adds to the pressure on already overstrained security forces. Hence, security advice had been sent to the government to keep the session at the minimum, sources said. The budget session, which generally lasts for around five weeks, was already boiled down to a week due to the possibility of elections being announced. The session began on February 25 and was to end on March 2. However, now, it might end on Thursday, sources said.
Meanwhile, minister of state for home Deepak Kesarkar said that there was no need for panic, though the security across the city and the state have been heightened. ‘‘Mumbai is always on alert. It has been moved on high alert mode,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, all unit commanders of all security agencies across the state were asked on Wednesday to follow all standards relating to a high-alert scenario, while the citizens were appealed to be on a lookout for danger and police stations were asked to be actively connected with their informers.
The coastlines too are being monitored closely and important cities like Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Kolhapur and Nagpur too have been moved on high alert apart from Mumbai. Schools in Mumbai have issued guidelines for parents and students asking them to follow certain rules, while crowded areas like hotels, beaches, markets and railway stations are under strict vigil, police sources have said.
Security was tightened at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), where armed police and dog squads have been deployed in the area of cargo complex, major hotels in its vicinity along with the airport terminal.