Lutyen’s zone turns into a fortress

NEW DELHI: Sensing a possible fidayeen attack on Monday, Delhi police has turned the Lutyen’s zone into a virtual fortress from Sunday evening and has imposed prohibitory orders (section 144) through out the area ahead of swearing in ceremony of Narendra Modi. Police said that strict measures will be taken to ensure that every vehicle entering the zone is monitored.
Jammat-ud-Dawa has already criticised Nawaz Sharif accepting Modi’s invitation and intelligence sources say that suddenly there is too much restlessness among terrorist outfits based in Pakistan. According to top sources, Intelligence Bureau has asked the security agencies to make sure any unidentified vehicle doesn’t enter the area. “There is serious threat but we don’t have specific inputs. We are securing Rashtrapati Bhawan and hotels from all the sides within the range of two-three kms each,” a senior officer told TOI.
Sources say there all precautions are being taken as there is no specific input but organizations like Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen are capable of carrying of fidayeen attacks. “The event is of great importance and all high-risked persons would be at the venue. We cannot any chance in terms of security,” added the officer.
Police officials said that the prohibitory orders will be in place for the next 60 days so that there is no unprecedented incident within the zone. “There will be a ban on gathering and movement of vehicles in most parts of the Lutyen’s zone and no one without an authorization will be allowed to enter the areas around the Raisina Hill,” said M K Meena, joint commissioner of police, New Delhi district.
He added that special care is being taken to ensure a total ban on any flying object within 2 kms of the Raisina Hill, including balloons and toy planes.
A team of 10,000 personnel comprising of Delhi police, paramilitary and NSG commandos will ensure a five tier security system around the NDMC area, police said. Special teams have also been tasked to keep a round the clock surveillance on the roads. In fact a dedicated team of officers will also be keeping an eye on the security camera installed around the high security zone.
Police said that they will also deploy a team of specially trained commandos along with district police personnel at the street corners while sniper teams will be stationed on the roof tops and high rises around the Raisina Hill. Roads by which the foreign dignitaries' cavalcade will move to the Rashtrapati Bhavan and back will be closed in advance. The routes will be sanitized by a team of bomb squad and a commando team before the movement of the VVIPs, police said.
Police said that there was also a report of a protest planned by the MDMK leader Vaiko against the visit of Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa near the high security zone on Monday but the party has been asked to hold their protests at the Jantar Mantar instead.
“The seating arrangements will also be made in such a manner where none of the guests apart from the foreign dignitaries will be allowed anywhere near the podium,” said a senior police officer. A policeman will be posted after every third row of the seats to prevent any untoward incidents. Every guest will be escorted to their seating areas by a group of officials based on the enclosures mentioned on their passes.
Several teams of fire and emergency response officials will also be posted near the close proximity of the Raisina Hill.