Police personnel at Red Fort ahead of 80th Independence Day in New Delhi on Monday.
| Photo Credit: ANI
With less than a week to go for Independence Day, the Delhi Police has tightened security around the Red Fort and along designated VIP routes. Around 15,000 to 20,000 police personnel have been deployed around the Red Fort, along with thousands of personnel from the Rapid Action Force and the Border Security Force. Preparations began two months ago, with personnel identifying and mapping households and businesses in North and Central Delhi in the vicinity of the Red Fort and along the VIP routes. Security has also been strengthened following a fake bomb threat email received by the police last week. The source of the threat has not yet been traced, but officials said they are monitoring social media and are prepared for any untoward incident. More than 1,000 CCTV, stationary, number-plate recognition and AI-enabled cameras will monitor visitors and areas around the Red Fort. Some police personnel will also be equipped with body-worn cameras. “Besides keeping an eye on the movement of the people during the ceremony, it will also flag out any suspicious elements in the crowd, suspicious objects, vehicles or people,” said Niharika Bhatt, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police-I (North). Three Facial Recognition System vans equipped with 360-degree cameras will capture live feeds and match them with existing criminal databases, officials said. The police have also started using the Abhigyan application, linked to the National Automated Fingerprint Identification System, to identify people with criminal antecedents. The area has been declared a no-drone zone, with anti-drone systems deployed to detect aerial activity.
