AC security shield for Ram Lalla

THE HOME Ministry has sought permission from the Supreme Court to initiate a massive security revamp at the disputed Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya, including bulletproof steel walls around the idol of Ram Lalla. This comes almost one year after the terror attack at the site in which militants had lobbed grenades at the idol. But the grenades had not exploded. According to the ministry's petition filed in the court, the idol needed an air-conditioned bulletproof steel structure (with a wooden roof) to protect it from such attacks.

THE HOME Ministry has sought permission from the Supreme Court to initiate a massive security revamp at the disputed Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya, including bulletproof steel walls around the idol of Ram Lalla.

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This comes almost one year after the terror attack at the site in which militants had lobbed grenades at the idol. But the grenades had not exploded. According to the ministry's petition filed in the court, the idol needed an air-conditioned bulletproof steel structure (with a wooden roof) to protect it from such attacks.

The square steel structure will be 11x11 feet, with a height of eight feet. Officials said a double steel wall would come up on the rear side of Ram Lalla to protect it from rocket launchers as well.

"To construct any structure at the disputed site like the bulletproof steel enclosure, we need permission from the court," a senior official of the ministry said. "But outside the disputed area, construction work can be carried out. So part of the security revamp has already been initiated."