VARANASI: The Kashi Vishwanath Dham (Corridor) project, which will bring world class facilities to pilgrims from across the globe at the prime shrine of Kashi Vishwanath temple site, will also get advanced security arrangements as it also houses the sensitive Gyanvapi mosque.
“Though the project includes a vast CCTV network for monitoring every nook and corner of the site, including the highly sensitive Kashi Vishwanath temple and Gyanvapi mosque, other movable security components like door-frame metal detectors (DFMD), hand-held metal detectors (HHMD), female frisking booths and x-ray baggage scanners were not the part of the project,” said divisional commissioner Deepak Agrawal.
He added, “In view of this, a proposal for procurement of 31 DFMDs, 19 female frisking booths, 47 HHMDs and 11 X-ray baggage scanners worth Rs 5.43 crore has been forwarded to the state government last week.” “Advanced DFMDs and female frisking booths will be placed at all the entry points of the KV Dham, while X-ray baggage scanners will be placed at the entry points of the pilgrim facility centres on its campus,” said the commissioner adding that the proposal was forwarded to the government after seeking details from the security department on June 12.
“All the procurements will be done through government e-Marketplace,” he added.
With the beginning of Ayodhya temple movement in ’90s, the Kashi Vishwanath-Gyanvapi complex was declared a highly sensitive site and a standing committee on its security came into existence after 1992.
After the city witnessed terror attacks between 2005 and 2010, the sensitivity of this complex increased and security plans were revised to meet the challenges in case of a terror attack.
The government is spending crores of rupees annually to pay the salary of the security forces deployed at this site apart from spending millions to arrange technical resources.
Three-layered security is in place at this site under the supervision of an additional SP rank officer.
The temple and mosque are guarded by the Central paramilitary forces in the red zone (inner cordon) while the civil police have the role of frisking and crowd regulation.
“The highly sensitive site already has a huge network of CCTVs, security gadgets, power sliding gates, dedicated units of bomb disposal squad, fire brigade along with a control room inside the complex.
sAll the existing equipment of the site will also be utilised along with new gadgets on the expanded campus,” said Agrawal.
The KV Dham project commenced with the formation of Yogi Adityanath government.
Later, a long-pending demand of a standing committee for demolition of several old and dilapidated buildings obstructing security arrangements as well as posing threat for the security personnel was addressed.
Around 396 buildings were purchased and removed to implement the over Rs 700 crore KV Dham project, which is expected to be completed by November end.
Regarding advancement of facilities, including security arrangements, police commissioner A Satish Ganesh said, “The current security plan is being maintained as per the guidelines of the standing committee.
Any change like assessing requirement of manpower will be taken only after the structures proposed in KV Dham area are completed.”