Police take 'full command' of Commonwealth Games venues

A strong force of 80,000 Delhi Police personnel and 175 companies of paramilitary forces, around 175,000 personnel, would be deployed to guard the city during the Oct 3-14 Games.

"We are in full command of the venues. Mock drills and exercises are going on. Adequate security arrangements are in place to ensure an incident-free Games," Rajan Bhagat, spokesperson of Delhi Police, told IANS.

Daily security drills are being held at the venues. "The exercise is being undertaken every day for 1-2 hours to see the reaction time of the team. The team includes the bomb disposal squad, dog squad, trained officials and paramilitary forces. This is necessary to improve the performance of the personnel," said Paramaditya, Additional Deputy
Commissioner Police and venue commander of the R.K. Khanna Tennis complex. The complex will be guarded by over 800 officials.

Each Games venue is under the charge of a 'venue commander' of IPS officer rank who supervises the drills. Each venue will be connected to a central command room (command, control, coordination and communication centre) at the Delhi Police headquarters where CCTV cameras will relay every activity from the venues.

Besides, Delhi Police will have 62 National Security Guard (NSG) commandos in case of any combat situation, Special Protection Group (SPG) commandos for VVIP security, and local police personnel in and around a two-kilometre area from a particular venue, as well as  helicopter surveillance.

Sagarpreet Hooda, Deputy Commissioner of Police and venue commander of the Delhi University sports complex, told IANS that the drills are being carried out. "We are getting prepared to give the best," he said, adding that the complex would be secured by over 1,000 officers.

Likewise, Jawaharlal Nehru  Stadium, the main venue where the opening and closing ceremonies will be held, would be secured by 1,500 trained officers, the Major Dhyanchand National Stadium by 1,000 officers, Indira Gandhi National Stadium by around 1,200 personnel, Talkatora by 800-1,000 officers, Siri Fort Complex by 1,000 officers, and similar number for the other stadium.

At the apartments where athletes would be staying,  Delhi Police would have commandos deployed on every building, apart from trained private security guards to look after peripheral security. The practice venues would have commandos and dog squads round the clock and the whole area would be lighted up.