AMRITSAR, Punjab, India: May 24, Reuter: Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi has approved a modified security plan involving demolition of Parikarma rooms to prevent militant Sikhs again taking, over the Golden Temple, holiest shrine of the Sikh faith, senior Indian political sources said on Tuesday.

They said the plan, costing an estimated 550 million rupees would involve the demolition of up to 700 properties around the temple in the city of Amritsar to create an open area that could be more easily policed.

The area is considerably smaller than in previous proposals to impose security on the vast temple complex, which had become headquarters for militant groups waging a campaign for an independent Sikh homeland they call Khalistan.

Police are determined to prevent a repetition of the 10 day siege of the temple earlier this month which ended with the surrender of the last 46 militants barricaded inside to a commando led paramilitary force of 3,000 men.

The campaign of assassinations and random killings has continued despite the surrenders and since the siege ended many of the targets have been the Hindus.

On Tuesday, the Press Trust of India News agency said gunmen killed a family of six Hindus near the Punjab city of Jullundur during the night. The victims included a boy of three.

About 70 Hindus have been killed since the siege ended. Many of them migrant workers.

The sources said Gandhi approved the Golden Temple security plan at a top level meeting on May 20, shortly after the siege of the temple ended.

Plans for a security zone have been in existence since 1984, when the army attacked the temple.

The sources said the plan approved by Gandhi would raze most buildings within 40 meters of the Parikarma, the walkway that surrounds the inner sanctum of the temple.

They said government would pay for the properties demolished, provide alternative sites for people displaced and give a 48 per cent subsidy for the new purchase.

The sources said notifications to vacate premises would be issued soon,

Article extracted from this publication >> May 27, 1988