With 26/11 haunting the police and the government for their failure, it has come to light that some security recommendations made to the government after the 7/11 blasts are gathering dust. After the train blasts, the then Mumbai police commissioner A N Roy had made several recommendations. The state government is yet to act on them. A Maharashtra Industrial Security Force (MISF) on the lines of CISF for establishments like Mantralaya, Vidhan Sabha and Vidhan Parishad was one of the key recommendations. This force had been recommended in view of pressure on police which had increased tremendously due to terrorism. The idea was to ease some of the pressure. Another recommendation was to take up with the Centre, the matter of reducing custom duty on imported electronic safety gadgets. This was meant to encourage establishments like malls and theatres to install these gadgets. But sources said the state government had not even written to the Centre in this regard. A legislation to grade security into open and closed categories was another recommendation. Closed security would mean protection of public places by the police alone. Open security would mean private parties would play a role along with the police. Open security would also make private parties (like managements of malls and theatres) accountable for security, along with police. Another area pointed out in the recommendations was occupancy certificate issued by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to public places and places where crowds gather, like malls, theatres. It was recommended that such certificates be given only after local police gave security clearance. The police, in this case, would look after aspects like installation of metal detectors and other equipment in the said places. But no steps have been taken in this regard either. While a senior IPS officer blamed lack of coordination between IAS and IPS officers for proposals like these not taking off, former top cop Julio Ribeiro said: “Recommendations are acceptable but are secondary. What police should focus on is human intelligence that can avert such incidents.”Newsline made several calls and SMSes, but DGP A N Roy was not available for comment. Chitkala Zutshi, home secretary, too was not available for comment despite several attempts.
