Cops to patrol soft target spots

In its fight against terror elements, the Hyderabad police has decided to add one more task to the "job chart" of 60 police stations in the city commissionerate limits: monitoring on foot the movement of suspects and strangers. City police commissioner Balwinder Singh has issued orders directing that all station house officers should focus on the security aspects in "soft target areas" like small eateries, parks and road-side bandis. So far the police had been concentrating on "hard target areas" like VVIP zones, scientific institutions, big malls and cinema theatres.

The city police has shifted the security strategy to concentrate more on soft target areas in view of the recent bomb blasts at places, which security experts never thought of being the target of cross-border terrorists. According to police sources, the city police map will be re-drawn to mark the areas in two different colours. While one colour indicates hard targets the other demarcates the soft target areas.

The police will now have to concentrate on both. As many as 380 "foot patrol" teams have been set up to keep a watchful eye on terror suspects and strangers in respective police station limits. It is the duty of these teams to ensure that no untoward incident takes places in their allotted areas. The city police has also decided to send teams to Mumbai and Delhi for specialised training in handling terror situations and thwarting terror attacks though increased vigilance and intelligence.

"Hyderabad has become the third city in the country for terror targets, after Mumbai and Delhi. To begin with we will send a team of 20 police personnel to these cities for specialised training. On return, they in turn will train the local personnel," a senior police official told this correspondent.