The major security breach in Parliament on Wednesday brought to the fore shortcomings in the security protocol, driven in part by the shortage of parliamentary staff assigned to enforce it, a point made by some leaders in the all-party meeting convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
The two accused, Manoranjan D and Sagar Sharma, who jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber had visitors’ passes for 45 minutes but they stayed in the visitors’ gallery for close to two hours, in violation of the rules, sources said.
Parliament’s security staff used to usher visitors out from the gallery near the deadline of their stay but their deployment has been nearly absent in the galleries of the new building as they have been busy with duties at different places amid changing security needs and requirement of the new place, the sources said.
They said the sanctioned strength of security officials in the hierarchy ranging from Special Director (Security) to Security Assistant Grade-II is around 301 while the actual strength is 176 — a vacancy of 125. Importantly, the biggest chunk of vacancies are among entry-level officials, the nut and bolt of security apparatus, the sources added.
Against a sanctioned strength of 72 in Security Assistant Grade-II, the actual strength is only nine, they said, adding that the corresponding figure for Security Assistant Grade-I is 24 against a sanctioned strength of 69.
The sources claimed that there has been no fresh recruitment for over 10 years.
Birla assured members of all parties that a thorough review of security arrangements will be made and corrective measures taken following the incident, which came on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack.
here was a serious security lapse in the Lok Sabha where two persons on Wednesday jumped into the chamber of the House from the public gallery and released yellow gas from canisters, said the former Officer on Special Duty of the Parliament Security V Purushotham Rao.
Rao said this kind of incident could have been avoided had the recommendations of a committee headed by then Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, appointed after the 2001 Parliament attack incident, been implemented.
Rao said he shot one of the five assailants who attacked Parliament in 2001 and claimed that one of the recommendations made by the committee was to install a bullet-proof glass in the visitors gallery of Parliament.
“The standard operating procedures (SOP) have not been followed. I am not supposed to criticise anybody, but this is a lapse. This is a serious lapse.
The SOP the standard operating procedures have not been followed correctly,” he said. Rao was a DIG rank officer with CRPF and in-charge of security at the Parliament from 1999 to 2004.
He further said Members of Parliament should be very careful about letting people come into the visitor gallery.