Republic Day: Over 70,000 policemen on guard in Delhi

Over 70,000 policemen from the Delhi police and paramilitary forces are all set to be on guard for the Republic Day celebrations on Tuesday. A multi-layer security blanket has been thrown around the national capital on the eve of the Republic Day with anti-aircraft guns and LMGs positioned at vantage points in view of intelligence inputs that terror groups may target some important installations in the city.

Gunners have been given clear instructions to bring down any aerial object flying without permission. A “NOTAM (Notice to Airmen)” has been declared from 10.35 am to 12.15 pm during which no flights will land or take off at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Special arrangements have been made at Rajpath where President Pranab Mukherjee, who is the Commander-in-Chief of defence services, will witness nation’s military might that will be on display.

French President Francois Hollande, who is the chief guest of this year’s Republic Day, will be seated along with Mr Mukherjee and host of VVIPs, including vice- president Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

As a precautionary measure, LMGs have been positioned at 10 vantage points along the route which the parade will take. “Specially-trained police personnel with light machine guns have been deployed at 10 strategic spots in New Delhi area,” a senior police official said.

Besides the entire might of the Delhi police, personnel from paramilitary forces have also been pressed into security duty.

Ahead of the Republic Day celebrations, security agencies and NIA busted a module by arresting 14 members of a terror group which was taking diktats from terror group ISIS.

The senior official said that snipers have been stationed on 45 buildings overlooking Rajpath besides providing a similar cover on all the buildings along the parade route.

Meanwhile, the airspace will remain out of bounds for commercial flights arriving and departing out of the IGI airport here between 10.35 am and 12.15 pm on Tuesday. As many as 1,000 traffic officials have been issued revolvers so that they can deal with any untoward incident amid heavy security

“We are coordinating with Central security forces and adequate security arrangements have been made,” Delhi police commissioner B.S. Bassi said.