Sharad Pawar turns down certain measures under Z-plus security cover

New Delhi: Nationalist Congress Party-SP (NCP-SP) chief Sharad Pawar, accorded Z-plus protective cover recently, is learnt to have turned down certain measures suggested by security agencies.

The Centre accorded him the Z-plus cover of the Central Reserve Police Force's (CRPF) VIP security wing after a threat assessment review by central agencies. However, Pawar is learnt to have conveyed to them that he has not been told why his security is being increased.

The 83-year-old former Maharashtra chief minister is learnt to have rejected the proposals to deploy additional security personnel inside his house in the national capital, change the vehicle he uses to travel within the city and that he be escorted by two security personnel inside his vehicle.

Pawar however was amenable to increasing the height of the boundary walls of his house in Delhi as part of the enhanced security measures.

The former defence minister is learnt to have conveyed this to the representatives of security agencies -- the CRPF and the Delhi Police -- at a meeting here on Friday.

Besides them, representatives of the Delhi Fire Service, the Central Public Works Department, the New Delhi Municipal Council and the Union home ministry were also part of the meeting.

Sources had said that after the assessment recommended a strong security cover for Pawar, the Union home ministry asked the CRPF to give him Z-plus protection. Fifty-five armed CRPF personnel have been earmarked for the task.