Lucknow: A day after a packet containing white powder, later identified as explosives, was found inside the Uttar Pradesh Assembly during the ongoing budget session, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday said the NIA (National Investigation Agency) should be given charge of leading the investigation into the major security lapse.
Adityanath said this in his address during the session following a high-level meeting he had called in the morning to review the security situation in the Assembly.
Weighing around 150 gm, the packet was found under the seat of Samajwadi Party MLA Manoj Pandey. Security officials reached the Assembly soon after and recovered the packet whose contents were then sent to a forensic laboratory for tests.
The forensic laboratory has found the powder to be a plastic explosive, PETN (Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate).
Adityanath, in his address during the session, said: “Can we allow anyone to compromise the security of 403 MLAs? This is PETN, this is a dangerous substance. It will be revealed who is behind this. Police verification should be conducted of every security personnel.”
The CM also saw a terror conspiracy and regretted the absence of a Quick Response Team (QRT) for the state. “It’s unfortunate that the largest Assembly of the country doesn’t have a QRT,” he said.
Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey said security cannot be compromised and apprised the members of the new security arrangements in the Assembly. “There will be a Pradeshik Armed Constabulary (PAC) team at every gate of the Assembly. There will also be a full body scanner at every gate. Moreover, a QRT will also be deployed,” he said.
The incident gave the opposition parties an opportunity to criticize the state government. “Security is a serious issue. Yesterday, even the Speaker expressed concern over the same. Whatever is to be done, will be done. Terrorists want to spread their nexus all across the nation, but they won’t get the access to Uttar Pradesh or its Assembly,” UP minister Sidharth Nath Singh told ANI.
Samajwadi Party leader Rajendra Chaudhary, too, told ANI: “Every day, some or the other crime takes place. The women in the state are not safe. The law and order situation lacks order.”
The UP Assembly session began this week in which the Adityanath-led BJP government presented its first budget.
India Tribune, as an English weekly newspaper, was launched in 1977 in Chicago by its publisher Prashant Shah with a lofty ideal to serve the Asian Indian community in the USA. Over the years, it has grown with all vigor, and now it is being published in three editions – Chicago, New York and Atlanta. India Tribune, a journal of its kind for the family in the USA, has been a household name for many Indians for over three decades with each issue commanding a readership of over 125,000.
