HYDERABAD: A high alert has been sounded in Andhra Pradesh in the light of the Mumbai serial bomb blasts. Security has been stepped up at all public places such as railway stations, bus-stations, airports and some identified places of worship. Heavy contingents of police have been posted for protection of vital installations such as telephone exchanges, radio stations, major dams like Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar and power stations at Vijayawada and Kothagudem.

Vehicles are being checked at various points on several highways in the State, especially on the stretches between Hyderabad and Vijayawada, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada and Chennai. The police at Tirumala Hills, the pilgrim centre accounting for a floating population of over 50,000 on any day, have been kept on their toes and checking has been made a must at the queues at Vaikuntam, Kalyanakatta and other places. This is in addition to the requirement to necessarily go through the existing metal detectors. In the capital, security has been tightened at the Secretariat with visitors not being allowed in without passes and employees sans their identity cards. A round-the-clock vigil is being maintained in and around the premises already in view of threats from naxalites. At Madhapur, where the State's prestigious software technology park is located, vehicles and visitors are being subjected to checks. Temporary checkpoints, manned by armed police, have been set up at each of the massive buildings, including the Hi-Tech City.

Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy reviewed the situation at the Secretariat along with Home Minister K. Jana Reddy and the top brass of the police. Speaking to reporters later, the Home Minister said a strict watch was being kept over the city and some preventive arrests had been made based on police records.

Attack on humanity

The Minister condemned the serial blasts by terrorists in Mumbai, describing them as "an attack on humanity."

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