The Jagannath temple

Bhubaneswar, July 5: Binoculars on rooftops and closed-circuit TV cameras scanning the roads. Metal detectors at the temple gates and plainclothes police on the premises.

After today’s militant strike in Ayodhya, the state government is taking no chances with Lord Jagannath’s annual chariot ride through the streets of Puri on Friday.

Sixty platoons of armed police and six of the Rapid Action Force (RAF), in their blue-and-black fatigues, will be stationed for the rath yatra, which will draw a million devotees and foreign tourists as well as the Orissa chief minister and governor, to the temple town on Friday. Another 450 state police officers will be deployed on the day of the yatra.

“Though there is no specific information of any militant activity during the Rath Yatra, precautions will be taken,” Orissa director-general of police Suchit Das said.

A special operation group of armed police will form the outer security ring, manning the three entry points to the town ? from Bhubaneswar, Konark and Brahmagiri. They will stop and check vehicles at random.

In the town, security personnel with binoculars and walkie-talkies will scan the streets from rooftops around the temple and along the yatra route.

Two closed-circuit TV cameras with the facility to magnify images and a posse of plain-clothes police “spotters” will be on the lookout for suspicious-looking persons.

At each of the temple’s four main gates, devotees and tourists will be checked with metal detectors.

All the security officials will be under the direct supervision of Amarananda Patnaik, additional director-general of police and head of the crime branch, criminal investigation department.

Intelligence agencies had identified the Jagannath temple as a possible terrorist target right after the September 2002 attacks on the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar.

Although the Rath Yatra has been free of any major tragedy, the presence of a large number of VIPs and foreign tourists is keeping the police on tenterhooks.

The government has tightened security also at other famous temples, such as the Sun temple in Konark and the Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar.

Tirupati alert

A red alert has been sounded across Andhra Pradesh and security around all prominent temples in the state has been beefed up.

State home minister K. Jana Reddy said security has been tightened at Tirupati, Srisaliam and Bhadrachalam. “Special police are monitoring traffic on the road to Tirupati and checking all vehicles,” he said.