The state govts have issued directives to ensure public life is not disturbed and the intelligence machinery geared up to prevent communal violence.
NEW DELHI: A countrywide high alert was sounded and vigilance stepped up around vital installations and important places of worship after a powerful bomb exploded inside Mecca mosque in the heart of Hyderabad on Friday.
The Union Home Ministry is monitoring the situation and in touch with the Andhra Pradesh government while security personnel are deployed at religious institutions, railway and metro stations, bus terminals and shopping malls to prevent any untoward occurrance.
Security has been beefed up at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai, Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddhin Chishti's shrine at Ajmer, Sri Krishna Janmasthan at Mathura and various oil refineries among other important locations.
The state governments have issued directives to ensure public life is not disturbed and the intelligence machinery geared up to prevent communal and sectarian violence.
A heavy vigil is being kept on places of worship, especially gurdwaras given the ongoing clashes between Sikh panth activists and the Dera Sacha Sauda religious sect.
"Pre-emptive steps have been taken and top brass of the Delhi Police is in constant touch with intelligence agencies," a senior police official said here adding prominent places in the city were under the security scanner.
With the scars of the Mumbai suburban train explosions and Malegaon serial blasts last year still fresh, Maharashtra is in a state of heightened alert, particularly in communally sensitive areas like Aurangabad and Malegaon.
Kolkata, Burdwan, Howrah, North 24 Parganas, Kolkata and Darjeeling in West Bengal where Sikhs have strong presence were on the security scanner.
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