Cameras at Osho commune will be watching revellers

Neither the fear of swine flu nor the fallout of FBI terror suspect David Headley's visit to the Osho Commune has deterred foreigners from thronging this place in droves to drink, dance, enjoy, meditate and make merry to herald the New Year.

But rattled by the visit of Headley and making news for the wrong reasons, the commune does not want to take any chances and has therefore tightened security measures and installed cameras to keep tab on visitors.

Keeping an eye
The spokesperson of the commune Ma Sadhana said, "First it was the 26/11 terror attack, which caused the dwindling of visitors to the commune, then it was the global recession and then it was swine flu. But now things have improved."

"Last year, around this time there were around 1,000 foreigners staying with us. But this December, the numberu00a0 has swelled to more than 2,500. Now, the crowd is huge and if people do not go in time to the meditation hall they are unable to participate," she added.

Joint Commissioner of Police Rajendra Sonawane said, "Abundant precautions have been taken for New Year."

However, the large number of foreigners at the commune have also raised security concerns as the Laskhar-e-Taiba operative Headley had visited the Osho commune twice on July 24, 2008 and on March 16, 2009.

People from nearly 100 countries including US, UK, Germany, Belgium, Brazilu00a0 Holland, France ,Israel and otheru00a0 countries visit the resort.