Embassies told to remove barricades

The Indian Govt has asked to remove security barricades saying these amounted to encroachment on public land.

The Indian government has asked about half a dozen embassies in the capital to remove the security barricades erected on roads in front of their missions, saying these amounted to encroachment on public land.

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"Yes, we have been told it is against regulations," a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy said quoting a letter from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

"But it will take a few days because we need help to remove them," the spokesperson said, referring to the concrete barricades put up in front of the mission.

Informed sources said besides the Chinese mission, the embassies of Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Australia and Canada had also been told remove the barricades.

A spokesman for the British embassy declined to discuss the issue. "We take security very seriously and we can't discuss it with the media," he said.

The ministry is reported to have pointed out that the barricades being not in conformity with the laws of the land amounted to a breach of the norms of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic conventions.

The US embassy had been authorised to put up the barricades on the approach roads to the mission in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on that country.

Following this, most other western embassies had also erected similar barricades, posing problems for the road users.

Sources said some embassies, which had been told to remove the barricades, had pointed out that the US embassy continued to have them and that they, too, had put them up for security reasons.

The ministry responded by saying that Indian security agencies would recommend necessary steps in case of any threat to any particular embassy.

Sources said Delhi Police had been asked to ensure that the embassies complied with the advice.

The police have also been asked to take steps against vehicles of diplomatic missions violating traffic rules, they said.