The bag containing tiffin boxes lay unattended for 30 minutes in front of Sealdah (main) station on Monday. The owner later took the bag away, with police not bothering to check it. What if a bomb had been planted in one of the boxes?

Police on Tuesday stressed the need for high-tech surveillance to thwart any terror plot and sought help from traders and transport operators to boost security in and around the city.

A series of meetings was held throughout the day, including one at Lalbazar and another at Writers’ Buildings, to firm up plans to prevent a disaster such as the ones in Ahmedabad and Bangalore.

At Lalbazar, senior officers met bus, minibus and tram operators and requested them to put up posters on the dos and don’ts inside the vehicles and at the stands.

On Bentinck Street, the cops asked the owners of bicycle shops to instal closed-circuit cameras in their establishments to keep a tab on the customers. The traders have also been asked to check the identity cards of the customers.

“Of late, bicycles are serving as terror tools. That’s why we are focusing on shops selling bicycles on Bentinck Street,” said an officer.

In Salt Lake, senior officers of North 24-Parganas police and members of Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority met representatives of IT firms and suggested ways to revamp security. The Authority claimed that closed-circuit cameras would be installed in Sector V in the next 10 days.

The officers asked the IT firms to instal security gadgets such as door-frame and hand-held metal detectors and use mirrors to scan the bottom of the vehicles in the parking lots.

At Writers’ Buildings, home secretary Ashoke Mohan Chakrabarti discussed security measures with police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti, the additional director-general of the intelligence branch, health secretary and hospital superintendents.

“Infrastructure, equipment, manpower — everything must be upgraded. More armed cops will be deployed on the streets,” said the home secretary. “We are on alert,” said Raj Kanojia, the inspector-general (law and order).

All traders, however, are not happy with the police plea. “Except for a few big-time retailers, most traders cannot afford to instal closed-circuit cameras,” said Asit Kumar Sarkar, the secretary of the Indian Cycle Traders Association.

Following the beef-up and extra checking, the airport authorities have urged passengers to turn up two hours before flights. There was panic in Coal India’s BBD bag office after the caretaker received a call saying a bomb had been planted in the compound. It turned out to be a hoax.

Orissa arrest

Gokan Bahadur, a 50-year-old Nepali guard, and his two sons were arrested in Mayurbhanj district, bordering Bengal, for allegedly sending a text message to a TV channel, warning about blasts in Calcutta.