A thick security blanket has been thrown around this historic city in view of the Muslim holy month Ramadan, which began on Friday, and the 10-day Ganesha festival, starting on Saturday.
HYDERABAD: A thick security blanket has been thrown around this historic city in view of the Muslim holy month Ramadan, which began on Friday, and the 10-day Ganesha festival, starting on Saturday.
The city is in state of alert since two near-simultaneous blasts rocked the city on Aug 25, killing 44 people and injuring 50 others.
Hundreds of policemen patrolling the streets and even narrow lanes and bylanes, large scale checking of vehicles, frisking of people at railway and bus stations, parks, cinema theatres, shopping malls and other public places are scenes the four-century-old city has rarely witnessed.
The alleged presence of some terrorists in the city and the disclosure that 10 kg RDX was smuggled into the city early this year have kept police on tenterhooks.
About 15,000 policemen will be deployed as part of the massive security arrangements in this city of nearly six million people.
"We already have 12,000 men deployed and are drafting 3,000 more from districts as part of the security arrangements," Hyderabad Police Commissioner Balwinder Singh told reporters.
Personnel of the paramilitary Rapid Action Force and Central Reserve Police Force will also be deployed. Thirty special teams have been constituted with modern equipment to detect explosives.
Such security arrangements have seldom been seen for Ramadan or for the Ganesha festival in this communally sensitive city, which has a long history of riots in 1970s and 1980s.
Thousands of Ganesha idols are taken in a mammoth procession for immersion into Hussain Sagar in the heart of the city. As the procession passes through the communally sensitive Muslim-majority old city, police keep a tight vigil along 20 km route.
This time the police have decided to erect 18 watch towers, each nearly 20 feet tall, in the old city. Each tower will have a 10-member special team with binoculars, video cameras, wireless sets and mobile phones to keep an eye on suspicious persons.
The last major communal violence in 1990 had claimed 200 lives. The city has remained by and large peaceful for the last 17 years.
However, the May 18 blast during Friday prayers at the 17th century Mecca Masjid shattered the peace. Nine people were killed in the blast while a couple of hours later five more died when police opened fire on a mob near the mosque.
Even before the police could track down those responsible for the blast, the worst-ever terror attacks in the city rocked it on Aug 25.
The twin blasts at a park and a famous eatery killed 44 people.
With the blasts shaking their confidence in police, a sense of insecurity prevails among citizens. Bomb hoaxes, frequent security checks and apprehensions of more attacks during the festival might impact the month-long festivities.
People are apprehensive of trouble in the coming days.
Businesspersons are wary of losing business in the changed scenario. "Everything seemed to have changed here after the blast at Mecca Masjid. People are afraid to come to markets, hotels and other crowded places. This may affect our business," said Mohammed Sadiq, a cloth merchant near Charminar, the edifice which symbolises Hyderabad.
Muslims, who constitute 30 percent of the city's six million population, are in majority in the old city, where unprecedented business activity is seen throughout the month. Muslims from other parts of the state and even neighbouring Karnataka and Maharashtra come here for Eid shopping.
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