The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : New `taqt', guards for Mecca Masjid

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

New `taqt', guards for Mecca Masjid

Staff Reporter

Meeting to be held on reconstruction works to be undertaken in the mosque

FOR THE ELITE?: The red carpet laid out for VIP visits to the Mecca Masjid stands in stark contrast to the shattered `taqt' on Sunday, three days after the bomb blast. - Photo: P.V. Sivakumar

HYDERABAD: The Government will arrange a new `taqt' - marble platform - in Mecca Masjid in place of the damaged one in the recent bomb explosion.

Announcing this during a review meeting, the Minister for Minorities Welfare Mohammed Shabbir Ali directed the officials to post two security guards at the mosque. A decision would be taken on posting more guards, training for volunteers and increasing the height of the mosque's compound wall, Mr. Ali said in a press release.

He instructed the authorities to evolve a system for keeping the belongings and footwear of people visiting the mosque. A separate meeting would be held on the reconstruction works to be undertaken in the mosque.

CC TVs

Meanwhile, police sources said that the Government had identified 20 places for installation of closed circuit television cameras at Mecca Masjid to keep a tab on the movement of suspicious persons following the recent blast that claimed nine lives. Police officials visited the mosque here on Tuesday and decided to keep two doorframe metal detectors (DFMDs) at the mosque's main gate to conduct security checks. Currently, only one DFMD was being used. The second one would be used in case of heavy rush.

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