Can’t provide cover to Games venues now, say security agencies

The security establishment has turned down a request from the organisers of the Commonwealth Games to provide immediate cover to venues and the athletes’ Village in the Capital. India’s security agencies are stretched; besides, there is no precedent of providing protection for a public event this early on, the organisers have been told.

The Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held between October 3 and October 14, still nearly five months away. The organisers had asked for security in view of the persistent threat of terrorist attacks on Games venues, at many of which work is still ongoing, and safety concerns expressed by international sports delegations and heads of missions of Commonwealth countries.

The Delhi Police and central paramilitary forces, working under the supervision of the Union Home Ministry, and in collaboration with central intelligence agencies, will be responsible for the security of venues and the Village at the time of the Games.

Top sources in the security establishment told Newsline that they have argued that police and security agencies do not take full charge of venues like Rajpath or the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium up until a few days before the Republic Day parade or a popular One-Day or T20 cricket match.

There was no deviation from this policy “even when an India-Pakistan match was staged at this ground in 2005 and (was) witnessed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and (the then) Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf,” security agencies have told the Games organisers.

For the Republic Day and Beating the Retreat parades — which are attended by thousands including VVIPs and foreign dignitaries — security agencies start covering the saluting base area from mid-November onwards, and the police begin to cordon off areas in the Central Vista only in January.

“If there is an apprehension of something (like a bomb) being planted in the (Games) venues, then that will hold good for the Central Vista, the parade route from Central Vista to Red Fort, Independence Day celebrations at Red Fort and Amedkar Stadium, where international matches are held,” the agencies argued.

According to top security officials, a pre-event lockdown is essentially a task for the venue-owners, and security and law enforcement agencies cannot in any case secure venues indefinitely in the post-Games period.

Elsewhere...
Melbourne Commonwealth Games 2006: Security— including searching and frisking — was provided by private agencies London Olympics 2012: Private security agencies have been roped in to play a significant role