Terror alert not specific to Chandigarh, says Official

There is no terror alert specific to Chandigarh, a senior officer said here on Friday.

"It is clarified on behalf of the Chandigarh administration that a routine advisory regarding precautions to be taken during festival days has been received from the IB (Intelligence Bureau)," a government spokesperson said on Friday.

"The said advisory has been addressed to all the states. No specific input about Chandigarh have been received from anyone," he added.

Earlier reports said that the union territory of Chandigarh was put on terror alert on Thursday following inputs from the IB of a possible terrorist strike.

"We have asked the Chandigarh Police to take appropriate measures. We have sought cooperation from city residents to be alert and inform police about anything suspicious," Chandigarha's Home Secretary Anurag Aggarwal said earlier.

Chandigarh is the joint capital of both Punjab and Haryana.

A number of VIPs, including Governors, Chief Ministers, ministers, legislators and top civil and police officials of both states live in the city.

The headquarters of the army's frontier Western Command are located at Chandimandir, 10 km from here.

With a population of 1.1 million, Chandigarh gets a large number of visitors from neighbouring Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

Following last week's surgical strikes by the Indian Army on terrorist launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC), the border states of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Gujarat and Rajasthan have been put on high alert.

--IANS

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