The Hindu : Sheila to shut her `open door policy'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 04, 2004

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Other States - New Delhi

Sheila to shut her `open door policy'

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI JAN.3. Alarmed over the incident in which a person entering the residence of the Delhi Chief Minister was caught planting money inside one of her drawers, security inside Ms. Sheila Dikshit's AB-17 Mathura Road residence here is being stepped up in a big way. All visitors will now be cordoned off into various categories and access inside the house will be restricted.

Describing the whole incident as "unfortunate'', the Chief Minister said she had been forced to have a re-look at the "open door policy'' she had adopted for her residence to meet visitors. Now there will be more frisking, security checks and of course barriers in place to make the whole residence safe and secure. A new feature would be setting up of a gate at the backside entrance of Chief Minister's residence to prevent people from barging into her lawn or kitchen, a common feature during the last two months in view of the Delhi Assembly elections. This gate will also control the entry of people into the office of Ms. Dikshit adjoining the house and where she often meets people with appointment.

"I have been following an open durbar policy. People are allowed into my house at any given time and I prefer to meet them in the open. I do not like regulating the entry of the people but now some measures would be put in place to keep a close watch on entry of suspicious elements,'' Ms. Dikshit remarked on Saturday.

Ms. Dikshit is understood to have discussed the matter with some senior security officials. She also reportedly had a long discussion on the issue with the Police Commissioner, R. S. Gupta. However, she is learnt to be upset at the behaviour of a senior police officer who reportedly went out of the way to brief media persons on the incident and tried to put the blame on Ms. Dikshit's staff and her close ones.

From now on people who come with appointments and those who come impromptu would be segregated and put in different places. People would not be allowed to stroll in the front or back lawns of the residence and would be kept out of the way of her entourage that is stationed inside the house. It has also been decided to post at least two security guards round the clock around the office of the Chief Minister to prevent entry of unwanted people inside her office that is often used by her sister, Rama Dhawan, to deal with the problems relating to Ms. Dikshit's Gole Market constituency.

Any person who does not have an appointment with Ms. Dikshit will not get entry into her office inside the residence. "The problem is that during the recent Assembly polls, the entire premises had become an open house. Anybody could just walk into the house and my dinning or drawing rooms. Now entry will regulated,'' she added.

The security personnel are planning to cordon off the entire house from the official working area and are understood to have advised the Chief Minister to meet visitors in her office rather than her residence.

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