Heights of negligence

The GHMC and the HMDA are spending crores of rupees on beautification of the twin cities ahead of the bio-diversity conference beginning Oct 1. But what about security? Though thousands of security personnel will be deployed, there are a few bitter facts that point at the laxity of the administrators. Lumbini Park, one of the tourist spots in the city, is the place where a terror attack claimed several lives in 2007. Today, neither metal detectors nor CCTV cameras nor even walkie-talkies are working at the park! The irony is the HMDA is busy beautifying the place but claims it can do little about the security aspect right now.

“It has been a year since the cameras, metal detectors, including hand-held devices, and walkie-talkies stopped functioning,” admitted a senior official of the HMDA on condition of anonymity. He explained, “Nobody bothered to clean the cameras or fix them when they stopped recording. Even the walkie-talkie sets were not recharged often, and were dropped often. So, they were damaged.”

Asked if there were any plans to get their act together before the conference begins, he replied in the negative. “We have invited tenders, and once we get some estimates, we will replace and install all the required security gadgets. This process will take at least a month,” said the official. He did not see any threat to foreign delegates, who might visit the park, and claimed, “it is not being done only for CoP-11, but for the protection of the people in general. It is going to be a permanent set up.”

The CCTV cameras are linked to a server in the NTR park and by the officials’ own admission, several times, none knew when they stopped working. According to them, they were repaired several times but when new staff were hired, the maintenance was neglected. Then, was any action taken against the staff for their laxity? “What action can we take?” the official wondered.