UP Assembly speaker cancels over 1,500 entry passes

Over 1,500 passes to enter Uttar Pradesh Assembly premises have been cancelled in a bid to beef up security after recovery of plastic explosive in the campus last week, the office of the Assembly speaker said today.
Also, a team of officials will visit assemblies of Gujarat and Maharashtra to study their security system.
In an official statement, UP Assembly Speaker Hriday Narayan Dixit said, as many as 365 entry passes, 715 vehicle passes of former MLAs and 421 temporary passes have been cancelled.
"In view of a packet containing 'suspicious product' found in the Assembly premises, it becomes imperative to take tough measures from the security point of view," he said.

The Speaker said it has also been decided that security system of the Lok Sabha and other state assemblies will be studied and subsequently implemented in the UP Assembly.
"After the Budget session, a study of the security system of Gujarat Assembly and Maharashtra Assembly is proposed," Dixit said.

For this, a team under the speaker will visit the assemblies in both the states. The team will interact with the speakers and other officials in this regard.
It will also take all the necessary steps to implement the appropriate security mechanism in UP Assembly.
"As of now, the democratic system of governance happens to be the most advanced one, and unfortunately some anti social and anarchic elements wanted to harm it, as it was reflected in the incident which took place in the UP Assembly.

"Our responsibility is that this system of democracy should be strengthened," he said.
About 150 grams of PETN (Pentaerythritol tetranitrate) explosive was found wrapped in a paper close to the seat of the Leader of the Opposition, Ram Govind Choudhary, in the Assembly on July 12.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had said described it as a "dangerous terror conspiracy".