Evacuation plan unclear, no drills conducted: MPS

A day after a major security breach in Parliament involving two intruders jumping into the Lok Sabha from the visitors' gallery and spraying yellow smoke in the chambers, several lawmakers on Thursday raised concerns about the complex's security apparatus and said they were not taken through a drill to explain an evacuation plan in the event of an emergency.

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran

Though officials aware of the details said that all requisite fire safety measures are in place and the new Parliament building has been designed with emergency exits, lawmakers argued that they have not been briefed about these details.

"Orientation programmes were conducted when work was digitised. Why shouldn't there have been an orientation to acquaint us with the new building, which has a complicated design... on most days, we rely on the watch and ward staff to help us navigate," said Javed Ali, Samajwadi Party MP in the Rajya Sabha. Ali also criticised the government for not constituting a joint parliamentary committee after Wednesday's security lapse, adding that one such panel was set up to review Parliament's security arrangements in the aftermath of the December 13, 2001 terror attack.