BENGALURU: Following incidents of unauthorised persons entering the Vidhana Soudha and cheating people, claiming to be employees of the state secretariat, the Department of Personnel & Administrative Reforms (DPAR) wants the identity cards of Vidhana Soudha, Vikasa Soudha and MS Building employees to be replaced with smart cards.

Sources said that the measure is being taken as there were increasing number of cases in which ID cards were duplicated. “The DPAR has recently issued a circular asking employees working at Vidhana Soudha, Vikasa Soudha and MS Building to send their details so they could issue smart cards in place of regular ID cards,” an official said.

The circular states that smart cards are being issued in the interest of safety and security. Sources said that the department was frequently receiving complaints of unauthorised persons entering, claiming to be employees.“Though the plans to introduce smart cards was pending, such incidents being reported frequently forced the DPAR to expedite the process,” an official said.

When contacted, DCP (Vidhana Soudha Security) Siddaraju S said that introduction of smart cards will help in implementing  a better access control system. However, he maintained that unauthorised entry of people can not be directly linked to the DPAR introducing smart cards.

It may be recalled that the Cubbon Park police had recently arrested eight people, including a person who claimed to be a former MLA’s son for allegedly cheating a businessman of Rs 1.12 crore. Investigations revealed that the accused had paid the Vidhana Soudha staff to allow him to pose as a minister.