Security overhaul likely as incursion exposes chinks

A glass wall in front of the visitors' gallery in Parliament, full-body scanners for visitors and an immediate ban on their entry, and sanitising the main gate or Makar Dwar of the new building these were among the raft of measures under consideration as a part of the revamped security protocol to plug loopholes exposed by the alarming incursion in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

- Saubhadra Chatterji

The entry of visitors was stopped indefinitely from Wednesday afternoon and no crowd would be allowed to gather in front of the Makar Dwar, which is used by members to enter the House, from Thursday, said a senior official aware of developments. "Other measures will be rolled out after the security review is completed by the home ministry and Lok Sabha secretariat," the official said.

The steps came hours after two men managed to breach Parliament's three-layer security and set off canisters of yellow smoke inside the Lok Sabha, rappelling down from the visitors' gallery on to the floor of the House before being overpowered by parliamentarians.

At the all-party meeting convened by speaker Om Birla at 4pm, several Opposition lawmakers demanded an in-depth probe into the breach, questioned the arrangements in the new building and sought action against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Pratap Simha, whose office facilitated entry of the two intruders.