Headlines
Obama R-Day visit: 45,000 securitymen turn Delhi into fortress
Over 1,000 NSG snipers and 44,000 Delhi Police and paramilitary
personnel will guard the capital on Republic Day, while 15,000 CCTV
cameras will keep watch to ensure a safe visit of chief guest US
President Barack Obama.
The National Security Guard snipers will
maintain a hawk-eye vigil from high-rise buildings within a two-km
radius of Rajpath, from where the US president along with President
Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be watching the
Republic Day parade.
Police said the remaining 44,000 security
personnel -- around 10,000 from the paramilitary forces and 30,000 from
Delhi Police -- will be deployed on the streets of the capital starting 5
a.m. Jan 26.
Sources said the central, north and New Delhi districts will be manned by over 20,000 security personnel.
Around
20,000 personnel will be deployed at specific locations from Jan 25,
the day Obama arrives in Delhi and the number will almost double Jan 26,
Delhi Police said.
Around 15,000 newly-installed CCTV cameras
will be used to keep watch in areas where Obama's cavalcade will move as
also some other roads and markets.
Rajpath, the three-km stretch
which is the main venue of the Republic Day parade, has nearly 160 CCTV
cameras. One camera has been installed every 18 metres.
A Delhi Police official, who did not want to be named, said camera footage may be shared with the US Secret Service.
Officials
said that as part of heightened security arrangements, the no-fly zone
for civilian aircraft will extend to a 500-km radius of Delhi Jan 26 and
will cover cities such as Agra and Jaipur, and even areas along the
border with Pakistan.
The radius of the no-fly zone for earlier Republic Day functions used to be 300 km, they said.
A seven-layer security ring will guard the enclosure that would be used by Obama, Mukherjee and Modi.
The
enclosure will be bullet-proof as the US president will be in an open
air setting for over one-and-a-half hours, something unprecedented in
his visit to a foreign country, officials said.
Before Obama's
plane lands Jan 25 at the Delhi airport, the area will be taken over by
Special Protection Group (SPG) personnel and US Secret Service agents.
India Gate and Rajpath have already been shut for people and the area is under constant guard by security personnel.
The airspace over the capital will be monitored by special radars, they added.
Security
arrangements at ITC Maurya, where Obama will be staying during his
three-day visit, are being monitored on a daily basis.
Delhi
Metro Friday said services would be partially curtailed Jan 26 as part
of security arrangements for Republic Day. It said all Delhi Metro
parking lots will remain closed from 6 a.m. Jan 25 until 2 p.m. Jan 26.
Entry
and exit at the Central Secretariat and Udyog Bhawan Metro stations
will remain closed from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m Jan 26, while the entry and
exit at Patel Chowk and Race Course stations will be closed from 8.45
a.m. to 12 p.m.
Mandi House and Pragati Maidan stations will also
be closed for people for one hour between 10.45 a.m. and 11.45 a.m., a
Delhi Metro official said.