NEW DELHI/ SRINAGAR:Over 30,000 security men, including paramilitary forces, would guard the national capital during Saturday’s Independence Day celebrations. Special arrangements have been put in place at the Red Fort owing to the threat perception to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will unfurl the Tricolour.
Over 20,000 Delhi Armed Police personnel and about 5,000 paramilitary forces have been deployed in central Delhi and New Delhi where the VIP movement will take place before and after the celebrations at Red Fort. “Watertight security arrangements have been put in place this year. The security personal will be vigilant on roads and restrictions will be there on a few roads till noon,” Special Commissioner of Police Deepak Mishra said, adding that over 7,000 armed security men would keep vigil in and around Red Fort.
The police said that sharpshooters from the National Security Guard will take positions atop high-rise buildings to spot any suspicious movement while Delhi Police’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) commandoes will keep a hawk-eyed vigil to thwart any possible threats from the ground.
“We are also installing 1,000 CCTV cameras in the periphery of the Red Fort and on the routes leading to the venue,” said a senior police officer. Even as the area has been declared as a no-fly zone for the occasion, paramilitary forces equipped with anti-aircraft guns will be positioned as part of an air defence mechanism. Drones will remain grounded, though, the police said.
J&K
In the wake of the recent surge in violence and threat of militant attacks in the state, unprecedented security measures have been put in place in Jammu and Kashmir for ensuring that the Independence Day (ID) functions pass off peacefully. As part of this, police and CRPF personnel have set up nakas and checkpoints at many places here as well as in other parts of the Valley. And the security men are conducting through search of vehicles and frisking of commuters at these points. Besides, the vehicles entering the city from South and North Kashmir are being subjected to checks.
“The CRPF men have set up combined nakas with police here and in other parts of the Valley. The cops have also intensified patrolling,” CRPF spokesman in Srinagar Ashish Jha told Express. The Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar, where the main I-Day function in Valley will be held, where Chief Minister Mufti Mohamamd Sayeed will unfurl the tri-colour, has been made out of bounds for civilians. “A three-tier security layer of police, paramilitary forces and Army has been put in place around the venue.