Managing security and access control in and around the route of the gun carriage carrying the mortal remains of former Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee was a big task and the Delhi Police rose to the occasion. Expecting thousands of people thronging Vajpayee's residence at Krishna Menon Marg and headquarters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg, the Delhi Police deployed over four thousand men and officers to man the security.
On a short notice Delhi Police on Friday deployed four thousand personnel and officers to made elaborate security arrangements for the last rites procession of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who passed away on Thursday.
Speaking to The Pioneer, Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik said, “Managing security on the route and segregation of the general public from the VVIPs was a challenge before us. Once the route was finalised, police teams were deployed to survey roof tops since the route passed through crowded areas on both sides of the road. local Police, security unit, Delhi Traffic Police, anti-terror units and Parakram vehicles were put on the job to secure the route and manage access control especially during the procession from the BJP head quarters to the Rashtiya Smriti Sthal”, he said.
“Senior officers of the Delhi Police tasked with carrying out anti-sabotage drill worked through out the night and all the possible points were surveyed and plugged. Senior officers were detailed to supervise security in the respective zones. Apart from uniformed personnel, trained men and officers were deployed in civvies to keep an eye on trouble makers. They managed in segregating onlookers and people from other areas who had converged on the route”, the Police Commissioner said.
“We had worked out each and every detail to ensure everything went off well. Traffic Police performed its job with perfection as manning the dispersal of the VVIPs after the cremation was a challenging task. The advanced planning helped the force in ensuring the safety and security and the access control”, Patnaik added.
Joint Commissioner of Police, Central Range Rajesh Khurana said that 30 police companies were deployed to monitor traffic, security and crowd in the National Capital during the last rites procession of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. We conducted house to house survey to check vulnerable points.
“In view of visit of the foreign dignitaries, special security arrangements were made on Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) and route from IGIA to Rashtriya Smriti Sthal. We deployed 30 Parakram Vans and 650 police personnel including senior officers in plain clothes to ensure security of foreign nationals, Prime Minister, other ministers and leaders present during the last rites of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
To handle the crowd on the route from BJP head quarters to Rashtriya Smriti Sthal senior officers along with other officials took the responsibility and ensured that arrangements goes as per planned,” said Khurana.
“Following the plan made by officers on short notice we had issued traffic advisory on Thursday and seven hundred police personnel were deployed to monitor the traffic in National Capital and the areas around Krishna Menon Marg, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg and Rajghat,” Khurana further said.