One day at technopark

.
Panic prevailed in the State on Tuesday after the police and other security agencies carried out mock drill exercises at various parts of the state. The mock drill was carried out, jointly by the Police, Coast Guard, Navy and Intelligence Bureau, to check the security preparedness of various agencies.

As part of this, similar exercise was conducted at Technopark also, as it being the major IT destination in Kerala. On my way to office yesterday, I could see Police checking all the vehicles on NH near Kerala University campus. My friends told me that similar checking was there near the toll junction on bypass road. Common people suffered a lot as those without helmet or seat belt are fined. To my excitement there were lot of policemen and Group 4 securities at the main gate, busy with checking the ID cards of all entrants. I just flashed my ID card and it didn’t matter whether it was a fake one.

The condition in front of the Nila building entrance was also not different. In fact, two my colleagues were waiting there as they were not allowed to enter the building without ID card. Techies wondered whether it was for some VIP visit, or any possible terrorist attack. Some people started talking about bomb threat at Technopark.

Around 7 in the evening, news came that a bomb was placed at Bhavani building and within no time the entire building was evacuated. Techies were frightened and frantic calls were made between employees and their families. Despite of the security arrangements made, a group of eight people were able to enter Technopark, without any ID card, and that too by walk. And finally to the relief of everyone it was known that it was anti-terrorist drill by the IB to assess how the Technopark would react to a terror situation. Those eight people were IB officials who could sneak into Technopark and lighted the crackers which they had with them.
Everyone was happy that it was not a real attack. Employees informed their parents that there is nothing to worry about. The eight member squad was happy that they could successfully complete their task without much tension. But the security officials in Technopark were seen disappointed as if they had lost the general elections. And the disappointed lasted only for a few hours. The next day onwards, they continued with their routine work- checking ID cards at the entrance (doesn’t matter if you show a laminated visiting card or a playing card), blowing whistles at the techies who don’t use footpaths, noting down some of the vehicle numbers (which reminds me of lalettan’s super hit movie “Ayal kadhayezhuthukayanu”), quarrelling with employees miserably looking for a space to park their vehicles, and quarrelling with each other .

There had been a few bomb threats in the technopark last year, following the terror attacks in Banglore and Ahmedabad. Being the major IT hub in Kerala, Technopark is one of potential targets for terrorists. More than 22,000 IT professionals work here and the security measures are not up to the mark to effectively counter any such incident that might happen. Here only the security measurement is the deployment of Group 4 securities. And of course, there are two special trained black cat commandos, who roam around here and there. They are said to be specially trained to defend terrorists with most modern guns, using their “lathis”.

I am not arguing that we must consider CISF, as it may cause many securities to lose their jobs. And I understand that it is not practical to closely check each and every person entering the premises. But the current situation must be changed. Now anyone who flashes a card that looks like an identity card has access to the campus. Many mobile company representatives and credit card sales representatives intrude into the campus without any proof of identification. Union workers enter freely into the campus. Is it that just red/blue shirt and lungi is enough? Does any security at the building entrance check the hotel and cafeteria workers? Who cares about those who travel in the Technopark express bus service? You can see securities at the main entrance of each building, but what about the entrance at the basement floors. Anyone can easily enter the lifts from the car parking floors.
My point is that right now the security measurement is not up to the mark and it needs to be improved. Here come my suggestions.

1. Install digital surveillance cameras at various locations, at the gates, within the buildings and its lifts.
2. Train securities to combat any such situation and deploy anti-terrorist squads and bomb squads.
3. Design and implement special task force, in which techies can also be included.
Increase the height of the compound wall.
4. Make all employees aware of the need for an effective security system.
5. Gather suggestions from various parts and implement the recommendations from IB, state police and other agencies.

The government should allocate funds for this. Implementing effective security measurement can be expensive. But what about the huge tax which IT professionals are paying?