As per the draft law, every owner or in-charge of a public establishment needs to store the CCTV footage of public activities for at least 30 days.
Soon, every public place in Maharashtra – private- or government-owned – will be audited to maintain its "internal security" against threats of terrorism, insurgency, communal violence and so on. The Maharashtra State Security Corporation (MSSC) will conduct these audits for a fee. It will be mandatory for every public building that sees a reasonable footfall, such as malls, schools, temples and cinema halls, to get this audit done from time to time.
"The detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the security audit will be framed by the MSSC in consultation with the parties concerned. These SOPs will be revised periodically," read the draft of the Maharashtra Protection of Internal Security Act (MPISA), uploaded by the home department for public opinion on the Maharashtra government website. The draft is open for the public opinion for the next three weeks.
As per the draft law, every owner or in-charge of a public establishment needs to store the CCTV footage of public activities for at least 30 days. The law also recommends these establishments to have provisions to control, by way of CCTV cameras, access points to important establishments.
"We have put up the draft for public opinion. Once we receive them and make changes accordingly, we will put it before the Cabinet and pass it through an ordinance for implementation. Later in the December session, it will be put up before the House for a formal process," additional chief secretary (home) K P Bakshi told dna.
MPISA has also proposed setting up of Special Security Zones (SSZ) in areas that are continuously exposed to insurgency or activities of any organised crime groups. The government will create an appropriate police structure for these areas.
"The police chief will have powers to ban or regulate the production, sale, storage, possession or entry of any devices or equipment or poisonous chemical, biological or radioactive article or substances, or electronic content of potentially explosive nature or any inflow of funds in an SSZ," read the draft Act. The zones will also have a command and control system, and a separate SoP to be followed by the SSZ police, the draft Act read.
The act has defined internal security threat as a situation "posing threat to state within its borders, either caused or provoked, prompted, or proxied by a hostile foreign power, perpetrated even by such groups that use a failed, failing or weak hostile foreign power, causing insurgency, terrorism or any other subversive act targeting innocent citizens, causing animosity between groups, violence, destroy, or attempt to destroy public and private establishments".
The Act also recommends bringing nuclear reactors, dams, major projects and coastal areas under its ambit as Critical Infrastructure Sectors (CIS). The draft has a provision for a jail term of up to three years and fine for those threatening the state's security. Special courts will be set up for the proposed Act to expedite the trial under it.
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