Terror-wary Bodh Gaya temple to receive armed security cover

NEW DELHI: Four years after a terror strike at the Mahabodhi temple, the Centre is planning to provide an armed security cover of trained paramilitary commandos to the UNESCO World Heritage site in Bodh Gaya in Bihar, known as the cradle of Buddhism.

A series of blasts in and around the temple on July 7, 2013 had injured two monks, following which Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had sought an armed security cover for the temple complex and its adjoining temples, 115-km south of the state capital Patna.

Officials said after several rounds of high-level talks, the Union home ministry has decided to sanction a CISF security cover to the temple complex and a few more meetings would be held to finalise the plan.

They said the grounds for providing the armed cover have been analysed and the security establishment believes that the world famous temple site needs to be provided with a protection cover owing to its status of being a World Heritage site, thronged by lakh of domestic and international tourists and followers every year.

“The first demand for an armed security cover to the temple complex was made by the Bihar government in 2013, right after the blasts. However, various issues like the pattern of deployment and CISF being provided only to high threat perception utilities kept the decision hanging for the last four years,” a senior officer said.

They said that the Central Industrial Security Force CISF), a force which has expertise in securing vital installations and buildings, had carried out a survey of the facility immediately after the blasts.

That CISF report will now be used and discussed before the security cover is accorded to the temple complex, they said. “The final sanction for granting the security cover to the temple complex could come by this month-end from the home ministry. An estimated 150-200 commandos and personnel of the CISF have been projected in the security audit that will be required to guard the 4.8600-hectare complex,” the senior officer said.

The officials said central security agencies, in their regular intelligence dossiers to the home ministry, have underlined that the temple complex is vulnerable from the point of view of possible sabotage and terror attacks and hence should have a good protection paraphernalia for the building and the visiting devotees.

While the temple trust will not be able to bear the estimated cost of Rs 20 crore per annum in lieu of the CISF deployment, the Bihar government may provide these funds in consultation with the Centre, they said.

Frequented by Buddhist pilgrims from Sri Lanka, China, Japan and the whole of southeast Asian, the temple and the Bodhi Tree, under which Lord Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment, did not suffer any damage in the blasts that shook the holy town of Gaya in 2013. As per the UNESCO, “the Mahabodhi temple complex is the first temple built by Emperor Asoka in the third century BC and the present temple dates from the 5th 6th centuries. “It is one of the earliest Buddhist temples built entirely in brick, still standing, from the late Gupta period and it is considered to have had significant influence in the development of brick architecture over the centuries.” NEW DELHI: The Visakhapatnam railway station is the cleanest, followed by Secunderabad, among the 75 most busy stations in the country.

As per a survey, the report of which was released by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu here today, the Jammu railway station occupied the third spot, while the New Delhi station was ranked at 39 among the most busy stations.

The survey was carried out by the Quality Council of India.

The Darbhanga railway station in Bihar was the dirtiest among the most busy stations.

Clean toilets at platforms, clean tracks and dustbins at stations were some of the criteria for judging railway stations for cleanliness. This was the third survey on cleanliness done by the railways to keep a tab on rail premises as part of its ‘Swachh Rail’ campaign.

“We want all stations to be clean. There are many stations which have improved their cleanliness ranking from last time,” Prabhu said after releasing the survey report.

The Anand Vihar railway station was ranked at the 5th position, while Nizamuddin and Old Delhi stations were placed at 23th and 24th position. The railway station in Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was ranked at 14th position.

The survey was carried out for total 407 stations, out of which 75 are in the A-1 category or most busy stations and 332 are in the A category.

The Beas railway station was the cleanest, followed by Khammam, in the A category. Ahmedanagar station was ranked at 3rd position.

While the Darbhanga railway station was at the 75th position in the A-1 category, Jogbani was the dirtiest in the A category. The railways has about 8,000 stations which are classified into seven categories -- A1, A,B, C, D, E and F based on their annual passenger revenue.

The stations which contribute more than Rs 50 crore a year in passenger revenue are considered to be A-1 stations.

The A category stations contribute between Rs 6 crore and Rs 50 crore as annual passenger revenue.

All suburban stations are in C category, while all halts are in F category. The railways will now carry out a survey of 200 trains on cleanliness.

Officials said the grounds for providing armed cover have been analysed and the security establishment believes that the world famous temple site needs to be provided with a protection cover owing to its status as a World Heritage site, thronged by lakhs of domestic and international tourists and followers every year