Paramilitary to take over security of Games venues

Over 35 venues of the upcoming Commonwealth Games will come under the security blanket of the central paramilitary forces from April one.

While the main venue -- Jawaharlal Nehru stadium -- which will host the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games will be guarded by the CISF, forces like CRPF, ITBP, SSB and NSG will deploy their personnel and commando units at different venues.

Starting April 1, the venues for events and training of athletes will be taken over by the personnel of these forces.

"The CISF will deploy 500 men from April 1 at different venues. Subsequently, 40 companies (4,000 personnel) and 300 commandos of the force will be deployed during the games," Director General Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) NR Das said at a press conference.

Similarly, the other forces and their commando units will be spread across different venues.

Spelling out the security features in the run-up to the games, Das said the safety of the Delhi Metro will be bolstered by 1,600 additional men.

"The Delhi Metro has 82 functional stations as of now. With the start of the games the number of operational stations would be 141," he said.

Dedicated dog squads and Quick Reaction Teams (QRTs), including women commandos, will also be deployed at the stations, Das added.