Red Fort resembled an impregnable fortress on Thursday with an unprecedented ground-to-air security cover.
Thousands of heavily-armed security personnel stood guard when the Prime Minister unfurled the Tricolour and addressed the nation from the ramparts of the historic Mughal era monument.
The Delhi Police, along with central security forces, wove a watertight security jacket to prevent any terrorist strike in the light of an open threat from Pakistan-based lashkar-e-Tayyeba (leT). lashkar chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed had issued a directive to lashkar cadre to target India and Delhi especially on Independence Day.
Intelligence Bureau (IB) inputs suggested busy market places and vital installations could be targets. As a result, lutyen's Zone was accorded special attention. The Delhi Police and Advance Security liaison Teams had done a through combing of the Walled City area that falls in the vicinity of Red Fort. Spotters and informers were deployed to keep tabs on movement of anti-social and ant-national elements, according to a senior police officer.
Quick Reaction Teams (QRTs), Emergency Response Vehicles (ERVs), Vajra anti-riot vehicles and specialised units like Special Weapons & Tactics (SWAT) teams were also deployed at strategic locations.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) had ordered a no-fly zone as Chandigarh and Hindon airbases were put on operational alert. Besides patrolling of the skies by helicopters, an air defence mechanism was employed to thwart any attack from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The entire Red Fort area was put under electronic surveillance with turbo CCTC cameras maintaining a tight vigil on any suspicious movement. Snipers of Central paramilitary forces (CPMFs) and elite commandos of National Security Guards (NSG) stood guard during the 10th address of PM Manmohan Singh.
The Delhi Police had requisitioned 85 companies of CPMFs and security personnel dressed as civilians warded off misadventure. Traffic movement was also curbed with Delhi Traffic Police manning the inter-State borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh Police. Joint sealing of borders was carried out on the evening of Wednesday to prevent heavy commercial vehicles entering the city.
The Delhi Police had carried out intensive checks at all the border entry check posts and vehicles with registration numbers of other states were accorded special attention, police official added.