Security tightened as fresh letter threatens to blow up Taj

Vijay Upadhyay
Agra. The security agencies have set up bullet-proof gun-shelters on the gates of Taj Mahal following another terrorist threat to blow up the monument. Orders have also been issued to shopkeepers conducting their businesses at the eastern gate of the Taj Mahal to move to a new complex, about two km away from the area.

On Thursday, Agra Superintendent of Police Gulab Singh received a letter, supposedly written by an Al-Quaida operative Mohd Mirza, threatening to blow up the Taj Mahal.

Interestingly, it was the same Mohd Mirza who had written a letter two months earlier to the police, threatening to blow up two Jain temples and Taj Mahal, but the police had failed to trace the identity of this so-called terrorist.

Also taking the responsibility of the Mumbai train blasts, the so-called Al-Quaida operative has threatened to bomb the Rajdhani Express, Shatabdi Express, Agra Cantonment Railway Station, Sadar Bazar and Agra College if his demands for money were not met.

The police treated this letter as a hoax, claiming that the handwriting in the letter was similar to the earlier one received by the police who are trying to match this with the handwriting of some Muslim youth arrested on Thursday while roaming around inside the high-security Agra Air Force base.

According to Gulab Singh, the letter had been written by some anti-social elements to create panic in the city and there appeared to be no real terrorist threat to Taj Mahal at present.

But still the police tightened security arrangements to prevent any mishap at the monument, which included installation of bullet-proof gun-shelters at the three gates of the monument besides increasing the number of police and other security personnel engaged in the external security of the Taj Mahal.

Meanwhile, the Agra administration has also began an extensive shifting operation on the eastern gate of the Taj Mahal, ordering all shopkeepers in the vicinity of the monument to shift to a shopping complex being made for them at the Shilp Gram, about two km away from Taj Mahal.

According to the authorities, while this move would accentuate the scenic beauty around Taj Mahal, it would also result in the monument becoming more secure from any terrorist attack on the eastern flank, which was most susceptible to such an attack.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Woman torched to death by inlaws on International Women's Day in India

AGRA.               It could serve as a well-placed slap in the face of the the groups of so-called women's rights activists who all too recently celebrated International Women’s Day, fervently praising the contribution made by women to the society and vowing to prevent violence against the feminine gender comfortably ensconced in luxurious clubs and hotels.    While the world was busy celebrating women’s day, a young girl was murdered in cold-blood, torched to death by her in-laws in Kayamganj town of Farrukhabad district of Uttar Pradesh, alongwith a 6-month fetus inside her, just three years after marriage.    Two weeks have passed since the grisly murder but the local police appears to be in no hurry to catch the absconding in-laws who doused the girl in kerosene and left her to burn and die on the street, making good their escape while the locals awaited for the police to arrive. Meanwhile, the victim’s mother Archana Sharma has suffered from a strok
Read more

My views on Libya, India and the permanent SC seat

Image
On Wednesday, the British government 'de-recognized' the Gaddafi government and decided that it was in the interest of democracy to recognize the Libyan rebels as the only legal representative of the Libyan people. Immediately after that, the British Police entered the Libyan embassy in London and forced the remaining Libyan diplomats out of UK. France has already been parachuting modern weaponry, arms and ammunition to the Libyan rebel strongholds and both France and the United States have recognized the rebels as the legal Libyan representative power. While I am not a fan of Gaddafi or his regime in any way or form but I am equally disappointed in NATO's tactics and the double standards being played by the western powers in the Arab world. Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein had been two sore patches in the otherwise near-sweeping 'western conquest' of the Arab world and its oil. Only now, when a group of disenchanted Libyans, trained and provided for by wes
Read more

Agra unit to turn waste to wood

Image
Vishal Sharma / Agra December 29, 2008, 0:00 IST Govardhan Udyog plans to use cowdung to produce particle board. Faced with the task of developing environment-friendly technology for industry due to guidelines issued by the Supreme Court, entrepreneurs in Agra are realising the cost-effective potential of such technologies and innovations. Govardhan Udyog is one such unit which plans to use a non-conventional raw material, cowdung, to produce particle board and pharmaceutical products. The unit was inaugurated this week on the Agra-Delhi national highway near the Mathura refinery, about 55 km from Agra. Company sources said the basic raw material used in the manufacture of particle board will be cow dung. This will perhaps make it the first particle board manufacturing facility using cowdung as the raw material. Govardhan Udyog Managing Director SK Mittal said particle boards were emerging as a viable alternative in designing office furniture and automation products in the country as c
Read more