The celebration of 73rd Independence Day in national Capital passed off without any untoward incident on Thursday, with several layers of security in place. The city was enveloped in a thick security blanket with the deployment of police and paramilitary forces, with the maximum attention paid to the 17th century Red Fort where Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation.
Leaving no stones unturned, the security personnel used cameras with facial recognition software for the first time. Anti-drone detection system was also deployed to secure the skies while special control rooms were subsequently monitoring alerts and coordinating with security agencies.
Delhi Police Public Relation Officer (PRO), Mandeep Singh Randhawa said that 20,000 personnel were deployed at the Red Fort and on the other roads connecting with venue.
A multi-layered security arrangement, involving Special Weapon And Tactic (SWAT) commandos and National Security Guards (NSG) snipers, were put in place for the national capital. Men and officers drawn from the Indian Army, Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and over 20,000 Delhi Police personnel were also deployed to man
the security when the Prime Minister unfurls the tricolor and addressed the nation from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort.
"Security agencies had taken all measures to cover all possible space from ground to the sky. Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter jets were also on alert to fly at a short notice of two minutes in the event of an emergency," a senior Delhi Police officer said.
The roads leading to the Red Fort were under surveillance and police personnel are taking help of trained sniffer dogs to check vehicles in north and central districts of Delhi.
Special "spotters" were keeping an eye on parking areas and kite catchers will ensure a distraction-free event on Thursday. Special control rooms will monitor alerts and coordinate with security agencies. Police personnel were regularly conducting anti-sabotage drills and making enquiries at hotels for possible suspects lodging there.
From 4 AM to 10 AM, only labeled vehicles were permitted on Netaji Subhash Marg from Delhi Gate to Chatta Rail, Lothian Road from GPO Delhi to Chatta Rail, S.P.Mukherjee Marg from H C Sen Marg to Yamuna Bazar Chowk, Chandni Chowk Road from Fountain Chowk to Red Fort, Nishad Raj Marg from Ring Road to Netaji Subhash Marg, Esplanade Road and its Link Road to Netaji Subhash Marg and Ring Road from Rajghat to Y-Point-Hanuman Setu.