Govt recommends security cover for religious, cultural places

New Delhi: The Government on Wednesday recommended special security cover to some of the important religious and cultural places of the country.

This information was given by Minister of State for Home Affairs, Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary in written reply to a question by Ramdas Athawale in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

At present there is no proposal under consideration of Ministry of Home Affairs to provide any.

However, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) under Ministry of Culture has intimated that a committee of that Ministry has recommended creation of a Special Force for protection of Museums, objects and protected monuments as part of a comprehensive security policy.

The responsibility for providing security to public places including places of religious and or cultural importance, rests primarily with the State Governments/Union Territory (UT) Administrations.

However, threat inputs, if any, received by the Union Government through the Central Security Agencies, are promptly shared with the State Governments/UT Administrations concerned.

Further, in order to augment the security arrangements made by the State Governments/UT Administrations for important places and / or important events, festivals etc, based on the requests made by them, Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel are placed at the disposal of the State Governments / UT Administrations.

Central Security Agencies carry out periodic security reviews of important places, including places of religious or cultural importance, and the reports of such security reviews are forwarded to the State Governments/UT Administrations concerned for necessary action, as per the recommendation made therein, for strengthening security.