LUCKNOW Home minister Amit Shah reviewed security arrangements for Ayodhya’s Ram Janmabhoomi complex at a high-level meeting with UP’s top officials even as the Yogi Adityanath government was considering an elaborate security plan for all other prominent temples following the Gorakhnath temple attack two months ago, said officials.
UP chief secretary Durga Shankar Mishra and senior police officials attended the meeting chaired by the home minister in Delhi on Thursday, they said.
“The Union home minister reviewed the security plan being put in place for the 70-acre Ram Janmabhoomi complex in Ayodhya where a grand Ram temple is being built,” an official said.
While the chief secretary could not be contacted, DGP DS Chauhan said he was not present in the Delhi meeting. “I did not attend the meeting you are referring to. The home ministry can share details of the meeting,” he maintained.
Top officials were believed to have briefed Shah on the security arrangements made so far and the plan being chalked out for future when the temple would be ready and be opened for devotees. The home minister issued directions to officials after reviewing the preparations. The temple construction work is in full swing and it may be opened for ‘darshan’ from December 2023.
The state government, it is said, had chalked out the security plan on the recommendation of a central government agency that reviewed and assessed the present and future security system for the Ram temple complex.
{{/usCountry}}The state government, it is said, had chalked out the security plan on the recommendation of a central government agency that reviewed and assessed the present and future security system for the Ram temple complex.
{{/usCountry}}Simultaneously, the state government was considering a plan for fool-proof security of all other famous temples/religious places too in wake of an incident in Gorakhpur on April 3. A radicalised youth Ahamad Murtaza Abbasi, an IIT-Mumbai graduate, had forcibly entered the Gorakhnath temple and attacked a security personnel stationed there with a knife.
“A proposal for hi-tech security of all temples including the Ayodhya Ram temple, Kashi Vishwanath temple (Varanasi), Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi (Mathura) and Gorakhnath temple (Gorakhpur) is under active consideration and will be rolled out after the same is cleared by the chief minister,” said a home department official dealing with the issue. CM Yogi Adityanath holds the home portfolio as well.
The proposal with regard to the security plan for all important temples in UP had been sent to the state home department by the DGP office on an expert committee’s recommendations. “The committee was set up for suggesting a hi-tech security plan for all the important temples following the security breach in the Gorakhnath temple in April,” the official said. He, however, refused divulging details of the proposal.