Delhi on high alert for I-Day as terror threats persist

NEW DELHI - The capital turned into a security fortress on the eve of India’s 64th Independence Day, with market places, railway stations and airports placed under heavy surveillance Saturday. Thousands of policemen and troopers were deployed at the Red Fort - the main celebrations venue - and other places in the light of terror threats.

Security has been intensified at all sensitive locations. “We have also installed barricades at several points where we are allowing vehicles only after checking them completely,” said a Delhi Police official.

People are being frisked at busy market places, Metro stations and railway stations in the capital. “We are keeping a tight vigil in and around the Red Fort, Jama Masjid and Chandni Chowk,” added the official. All these are located in Delhi’s old quarters.

Police in Bangalore claim to have unearthed a terror plot by Pakistan’s intelligence agency to carry out terror attacks in India with the help of Maoists. The US too has issued fresh warnings of terror strikes.

“We have elaborate arrangements in place to deal with any kind of situation. We have already tightened vigil in the capital, especially around places where the Independence Day programme is scheduled to take place. The whole force is on high alert,” a police spokesman told IANS.

Delhi traffic police are in the process of sealing the city borders from midnight to about 9 a.m. Aug 15. While commercial vehicles will be banned from entering Delhi, all private passenger vehicles will be allowed only after thorough checking.

Police are also keeping a tight vigil on footage from CCTV cameras installed in and around the Red Fort, from where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will deliver an address to the nation.

The three defence services chiefs and top government functionaries also attend the function at the Red Fort, as do members of the diplomatic corps and political VVIPs.

More than 35 CCTV cameras have been placed at various points, including in crowded market places, and three helicopters have been brought in for air surveillance around Red Fort. Anti-aircraft guns have been positioned at strategic places.

Delhi Metro has stepped up the security arrangements and issued directions that no parking facilities will be available at the Delhi Metro stations from 2 p.m. Saturday Aug 14 till 2 p.m. Aug 15.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which guards the Metro stations, has deployed 400 additional personnel at various stations to strengthen security arrangements, a senior CISF officer told IANS.

No mobile phones, food packets and water bottles will be allowed at the Red Fort venue. Around 100 police control room vans will be deployed along the route taken by Manmohan Singh from the heart of New Delhi to the Red Fort.

Around 3,000 security personnel has been deployed at the Red Fort apart from 170 companies of police personnel and paramilitary forces. According to police, a ground-to-air security apparatus has also been put in place for the celebrations besides making the mammoth Red Fort area a no-fly zone.

An air defence mechanism is also in place around the venue to thwart any terror attack.