'Blast a bid to shatter Pune's image'

Former ministers believe that the recent Pune blast was an effort to shatter the city's image and discourage foreign nationals from visiting the city.

By Radheshyam Jadhav & Vishwas Kothari, TNN | Feb 15, 2010, 09.42 AM IST

PUNE: The past few years have seen Pune growing as an ‘insulated’ city safe for reliable investments a growing industrial and educational hub. With Saturday’s blast shattering this image of the city, former police officials and military generals, bureaucrats and other senior personalities have posed a question on Pune’s growth and its readiness to tackle major challenges.

"It is indeed an effort to shatter the city’s image. Terrorists want to send a message that this city is no more a safe place, especially for foreign nationals," said former Union minister Mohan Dharia. Pune’s growth in all sectors has attracted attention of terrorist elements towards the city, he added.

"It is a fact that the city is growing fast and it would be catastrophic to depend completely on police for security. The growing cities with major economic activities will remain on target. It is very much necessary that people become more aware and conscious about the security," said former Union home secretary Madhav Godbole, who said that Pune was, in real sense, never an ‘insulated’ city.

Anti-terror operation expert Lt Gen (Retd) D B Shekatkar said: "The blast underlines that Pune is no more like any other city where incidents of this scale won’t happen. People should be more concerned and extra careful about security issues." Shekatkar, a key member of the Centre for Advanced Strategic Studies (CASS), said: "It was a wrong perception that a terror strike of this proportion wouldn’t happen in Pune."

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