A day after the Mumbai police sounding a terror alert, about four Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists having sneaked into the city to carry out 'violent attacks' during the New Year period, hotels are taking extra precautions to ensure the security of stars who will perform there for their yearend bashes.
Organisers at the Sahara Star hotels at Vile Parle and Amby Valley have decided to put a seven-tier security system in place for actresses Mallika Sherawat and Malaika Arora Khan.
The two hotels will also have stars including the entire Salman Khan family, along with big business tycoons.
The seven-tier security cordon will include police, security personnel, gadgets like metal detectors, surveillance cameras, elevators with access keys, and sniffer dogs.
Rajesh Mohan, strategy head, Sahara Star hotel said: "We will have a seven-tier security in place for the New Year's Eve party at both venues. The whole area will be under CCTV surveillance with security guards monitoring the feed around the clock. We will have security guards, policemen in plain clothes and metal detectors and baggage scanners."
The hotel has hired 500 security personnel for the Vile Parle venue and 250 for the Aamby Valley one, he added.
"People will have access cards of the floors that they need to go to, which will have to be swiped for the elevators to move. We have limited our entries to 2,500 people for security purposes. There will be a control room to monitor the CCTV cameras," said Mohan.
"The focus on security this year is greater than in previous years," said Ankit Anand, partner, Red Om entertainment, which is organising a year-end bash at Novotel Hotel, Juhu.
"We have made it mandatory for guests to submit some identification before the passes are issued to them. Also, our security budget is higher this year."
Hitesh Keswani, who is organising a party at a lounge in Worli, has also decided to go tough on security.
Apart from hiring people for scanning guests' bags, Keswani has also hired around 25 bouncers who will be present at the venue.
Himanshu Roy, Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Mumbai, issued an advisory to Mumbaikars to stay alert. He said the Mumbai Police had received intelligence inputs of four LeT operatives having sneaked into the city.
"They have been identified as Abdul Kareem Moosa, Noor Abu Ilahi, Walid Jinnah and Mahfooz Alam.
They recently sneaked into the city to carry out extremely dangerous activities, possibly during the upcoming Christmas and New Year festivities," Roy said while releasing a sketch of Jinnah.
