A special control room was monitoring as many as 15,000 CCTV cameras, with 200 high-tech digital cameras installed along the parade route
A special control room was monitoring as many as 15,000 CCTV cameras, with 200 high-tech digital cameras installed along the parade route
Amidst unprecedented security arrangements, Republic Day celebrations across the country passed off peacefully on Tuesday. However, a few incidents, including an encounter in south Kashmir where an unidentified militant was killed, and a bomb scare sparked by an unclaimed bag at a Pathankot railway station set off alarms.
The national capital was brought under an unprecedented ground-to-air security cover with thousands of armed personnel keeping a tight vigil for the 67th Republic Day celebrations where French President Francois Hollande was the chief guest. The area around central Delhi was turned into a virtual fortress in view of intelligence inputs that terror groups may target some important installations in the city. The security measures were adopted in the aftermath of the terror attack on the Pathankot airbase.
Ahead of the Republic Day celebrations, Central security agencies and the NIA busted a module by arresting 14 militants linked to the ISIS, who, officials claimed, had planned to carry out strikes at important installations. Commandos with light machine-guns were deployed at 10 strategic locations and anti-aircraft guns remained positioned at two vantage points in the capital. The entire region of central and New Delhi had nearly 50,000 security personnel drawn from the Delhi police and Central security forces guarding every nook and corner.
Special arrangements were made at the historic Rajpath where India’s military might was on display. Mr Hollande was seated along with President Pranab Mukherjee and host of VVIPs, including vice-president Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The VVIP enclosure was put under a multi-layer security ring with Presidential Guards and officials of the SPG and the NSG guarding the two inner-most orbits and the Delhi police was entrusted with guarding the outermost circle, said a senior official.
A special control room was monitoring as many as 15,000 CCTV cameras, with 200 high-tech digital cameras installed in the parade route, an official said. As many as 1,000 traffic officials had been issued revolvers so that they could deal with any untoward incident amid heavy security arrangements across the city involving around 25,000 police officials.
