Thursday, July 14 2005 11:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Centre has convened a high-level meeting here today (July 14, 2005) to discuss a 15-point proposal to beef up security at Ayodhya in the wake of last week's terrorist attack and threat perceptions with regard to major temples in Kashi and Mathura and the Taj Mahal in Agra.

The meeting, which will be chaired by Union Home Secretary, V K Duggal, will be attended by senior police and administration officials from Ayodhya, Faizabad and Lucknow as also from para-military forces, official sources said yesterday (July 13, 2005).

The 15-point proposal to beef up security in Ayodhya, which has been prepared by Faizabad district administration, will be discussed and security arrangements at key centres of Ayodhya, Varanasi, Mathura and Agra, especially the Taj Mahal, will be reviewed, they said.

A meeting of top security brass, chaired by Home Minister Shivraj Patil, meeting here on Tuesday (July 12, 2005) had decided to launch an 'action plan' to counter possible terrorist designs to disturb communal harmony and hit high-C.

Patil had visited the makeshift structure at Ayodhya a day after the terrorist strike on July five. Security arrangements at the acquired area have been considerably strengthened and they were being continuously reviewed, the sources said, adding efforts would be made to ensure that the acquired area was fully safe.

The proposals for today's (July 14, 2005) meeting included widening the area of sanctum sanctorum in the disputed premises, increasing the height of iron-pipe barricading from 10-12 feet to 25 feet and building a residential area very close to the makeshift temple for the commandos deployed there, reports reaching here from Lucknow said.

Increasing the number of watch towers to 30, making them fire and bullet proof, equipping them with close circuit TVs and night vision devices, raising the height of the wall near 'durahi kuan' (well) upto 40 feet and provision of modern and sophisticated equipment to the security forces have also been suggested.

The proposals also include increasing the area of 2.77 acre security ring around the makeshift temple manned by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel and round-the-clock surveillance of the roads around the acquired area by bullet-proof security vehicles.

Besides the Union Home Secretary, the meeting will also be attended by Director, Intelligence Bureau, E S L Narasimhan, Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Home Ministry, Anil Chaudhary and Directors General of CRPF and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) J K Sinha and S I S Ahmed respectively.