After car park bomb in May, six meetings and nothing else

Authorities held a meeting nearly every fortnight on strengthening security at the Delhi High Court following the low intensity blast outside the complex this May — but not much moved as a result.

No one was hurt when a crude bomb attached to a car parked outside the court exploded on May 25 but it raised enough safety worries to put the spotlight on securing the complex. And when Wednesday's blast — far more lethal — happened, at least 150 police and paramilitary personnel were guarding the complex then, besides six Police Control Room vans positioned nearby.

The Delhi Police and civic agencies have had at least six meetings with High Court judges and lawyers since the May blast, said Secretary of the Delhi High Court Bar Association D K Sharma.

The need to install close-circuit cameras in the complex, a key security requirement that couldn't be completed despite a proposal being moved nearly three years ago, was stressed again after the May blast. But the 49 cameras proposed to be put up are still in the pipeline, a delay Delhi Police officials today blamed on the Public Works Department's (PWD) inefficiency. "We even reminded PWD they needed to float tenders. It remains a key problem area," a senior police official said.

But PWD officials said the delay in procuring cameras was partly due to Delhi Police officials who suddenly changed purchase requirements this year. "After the May blasts, the police told us that 32 cameras, as mentioned in the original proposal, would not be enough and that we would now have to install 49. We had already floated tenders in March which had to be recalled," a PWD official said.

The official said tenders were floated again this June and are being scrutinised now. "The process will be finalised in two to three weeks," the official said.

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