Step up security in Golden Temple complex, SGPC urged

The All India Sikh Students’ Federation (AISSF) on Sunday urged Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee to step up security measures in and around the Golden Temple.

The federation made the demand in a letter to Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami, seeking the installation of metal detectors and equip the SGPC task force with modern equipment to frisk the visitors.

Talking about the demand, federation patron Karnail Singh Peer Mohammad, who is also the general secretary of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), cited the failed assassination bid on his party president Sukhbir Badal on December 4 on the Golden Temple complex.

Badal was attacked by a Sikh radical while he was undergoing a religious punishment awarded to him by the Akal Takht — the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs — for the mistakes committed by his party during its decade-long rule from 2007-17. Peer Mohammad said the existing security was insufficient, keeping in view the heavy influx of visitors and untoward incidents that occurred in the past.

“On the New Year eve, an estimated five lakh people thronged the shrine. Every one loitering around it could not be a devotee. We propose that in collaboration with the Amritsar police, a sort of barricading should be there where so that visitors pass through multi-level frisking and metal detectors,” he said.

Earlier, the SGPC executive body had recommended the installation of hi-tech scanning machines at the entry points of the Golden Temple after three low-intensity blasts ripped through Heritage Street leading to the shrine.

Two scanning machines were set up then for a trial run at the Ghanta Ghar entrance point — the same spot where Badal was targeted by the Sikh radical — but after a few days, these were removed.

Former SGPC general secretary Rajinder Singh Mehta, who was one of the members of the security sub-committee the SGPC constituted after blasts, said that the idea of installing scanners was junked following numerous complaints of ‘inconvenience’ from devotees.