KAKKANAD: Even five years after a bomb blast rocked the Ernakulam Collectorate, the authorities are yet to beef up security there.
It was on July 10, 2009, that a bomb went off on the fifth floor of the collectorate building. Though some security measures had been initiated as per the safety audit report of the police, the district administration seems to have failed to implement the security measures.
The four surveillance cameras installed to monitor the movement of the public have turned out to be scarecrows as the authorities have not taken even a single step to maintain the cameras. “The four cameras installed on the civil station premises have not been functioning for several months and at present no one is monitoring the movement of the public in the civil station,” said an official in the civil station.
Besides, the authorities have also failed to install the early warning system (EWS) meant to alert the public in case of any disaster occurring at the civil station. “Recommendations were put before the district administration to install the EWS but they still remain on paper,” the official added.
The report had suggested to the district administration to restrict the five entry points to the civil station. However, it was not followed owing to people’s demand. “At present the public can enter the civil station through five entrances and there is no mechanism to monitor the visitors. It is better to restrict the entry to the civil station. The administration should put in place measures to monitor the movement of vehicle on the civil station campus,” said the official.
The ATM counter installed at the civil station also poses a threat to the security as it allows people to enter the campus any time. Though two security men are deployed there, they are not in a position to monitor outsiders coming to the campus, sources said.
SIT Clueless
The Special Investigation Team constituted to probe the bomb blast has failed to nab the culprits till date.
The team first suspected a terror group associated with Thadiyantavide Nazeer, but even after several rounds of interrogation, nothing concrete came out. Yusuf of Parappanangadi and Sarfaraz Nawaz were interrogated a few months after the incident but that also didn’t yield any result.
Several extremist groups were suspected to be behind the incident, but none could be arrested till now. Thadiyantavide Nazeer and Vedimara Tajudheen, an expert in bomb making, were also questioned but they denied having any involvement in the incident. Later investigation agencies suspected Maoist groups to be behind it, but got no leads.
In the meanwhile, the police questioned thousands of employees and visitor but all went in vain as the agency still gropes in the dark in the absence of any clue.