Lucknow, Dec 8 (IANS) The Uttar Pradesh government Wednesday vehemently refuted Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s claim that the state had been forewarned against a possible terrorist strike on the ghats of Varanasi like Tuesday’s blast that killed a small girl.
‘There was no specific actionable input from central intelligence agencies regarding the blast that rocked the Shitla ghat near Dasashwamedh ghat on the Ganga banks in Varanasi on Tuesday evening,’ state Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh said at a press conference here on behalf of Chief Minister Mayawati.
And denying any ‘security’ lapse’ as alleged by Chidambaram, Singh asserted: ‘Shitla ghat at Varanasi was sanitized by the police barely an hour-and-a-half before the blast took place. In fact that was a routine exercise carried out by the local police prior to the daily Ganga ‘arti’, which draws huge crowds.’
‘You cannot stop devotes from converging there for the ‘arti’, which is quite an attraction for all and sundry,’ he added.
Mayawati, meanwhile, also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, seeking as many as 125 companies of central paramilitary forces to upgrade the security at all vulnerable religious spots and tourist attractions across the state.
Shashank Shekhar Singh said: ‘The chief minister has sought to draw the prime minister’s attention to the fact that when the centre has provided special contingents of paramilitary forces to Maharashtra to meet its anti-terrorist protection requirements, then there was no reason for denying the same to Uttar Pradesh.’
‘After all, Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in the country and had been on the target of different terrorist outfits, who have struck here 18 times since 2000.’
Referring to Chidambaram’s assertions in Varanasi earlier Wednessay about having sounded the Uttar Pradesh government on a possible strike, Singh said: ‘The input provided to us on February 25, 2010 was an alert specific to Dussehra, which passed off peacefully a month-and-a-half ago.’
According to him, ‘it would be unfair to assume that a 10-month-old alert should be taken into account even after the occasion for which it was specified’.
Referring to Chidambaram’s claim of two other advisories sent Nov 25 and Dec 5, he said: ‘Well, those were routine alerts issued every year on those dates.’
A two-year-old girl was killed and many people, including a few foreigners, were injured Tuesday evening when a bomb exploded on the banks of the Ganga during the ‘maha aarti’ watched by hundreds and sparked off a stampede.
Chidambaram, who visited Varanasi Wednesday, blamed the Uttar Pradesh government for ignoring a specific warning issued about terrorists planning an attack at Varanasi’s Shitla Ghat.
