MYSORE: If you find a bomb in Mysore on your visit as tourist to the Palace City, don’t panic. The best you can do is seek divine help and pray for three hours that the bomb doesn’t explode. For, this is the time it takes for the bomb disposal squad to arrive from Bangalore, a good 130 kilometres away.
Mysore city with the highest turnout of tourists in the country after Agra, has no bomb disposal squad or an anti-terrorist squad with trained men to face any such eventuality. Not long ago, the city was in the news for the arrest of two members of Pakistan-based terrorist outfit ‘Al Badr.’ It was on this occasion that Mysoreans were assured all facilities, manpower and advanced equipment to take terror attacks head on, if they were to occur. But, let alone that promise being fulfilled, the police department has so far not even formed an anti-terrorist squad (ATS) or a bomb detection and disposal squad. All that the department has are three aging sniffer dogs.
Mysore has a population of 12 lakh, including more than 6000 foreigners some of whom are students. There has been no system in place to track the activities of the foreigners, who are concentrated more in the northern part of the city. Mysore has innumerable heritage sites and vital installations like K R Sagar dam. But these places are under the surveillance of just one KSRP platoon each. The only saving grace in all this neglect is that the Mysore Palace has been provided with CCTVs for surveillance.
The Palace Board, headed by Deputy Commissioner P Manivannan has taken care to ensure fixing of these CCTVs.
However, there are no CCTVs at Brindavan Gardens, Chamundi Hills and Mysore Zoo, thronged by thousands of tourists every day.
Taking into account what happened in Mumbai, Mysore hoteliers fear that the city could also be on the ultras’ radar, wanting to attack foreigners to destabilise the economy.
How callous the government is in strengthening the security apparatus is borne by the fact that it has failed to fill up the posts of one DSP, one inspector, one sub inspector, two head constable and five constables in the city for a long time.
While the under-staffed department has confined itself to sending reports to the government, leaders of various parties and organisations only talk much and act less, instead of collecting information on a daily basis from residents on suspicious movements of possible trouble-makers.
The Mysore police have also failed to frame charges against Pakistan terrorists Fahad and Ali during the last two years. They should have by now probed their contacts using data from their satellite phones.
In the absence of an ATS, the city crime branch has been given additional responsibility of keeping a watch on terrorist activities.
Police Commissioner Parashivamurthy said that he planned to select 100 KSRP constables to undergo vigorous training to handle terror situations and also provide training to city intelligence cops.
Parashivamurthy said that there was a proposal to have a bomb disposal squad in all the four police ranges outside Bangalore city.