National capital gets elaborate security for Republic Day

An elaborate ground to air security apparatus has been put in place in the national capital ahead of the 65th Republic Day celebrations to be held on Sunday.

More than 25,000 personnel of the Delhi Police and paramilitary forces will keep a tight vigil during the Republic Day parade, which will showcase India's military might and cultural diversity to the world.

During the parade, spotters and snipers will be positioned on high-rise buildings along the 8-km-long route for Republic Day parade from Raisina Hills to Red Fort.

"More than 125 buildings around Rajpath will be sealed by the Delhi Police on January 25. Subsequently, rooftop surveillance will be conducted to keep subversive activities at bay," said Joint Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Mukesh Kumar Meena.

A central monitoring centre has also been established where the CCTV footage from around 160 CCTV cameras installed on the stretch will be relayed live and top officials will constantly review the security detail in real time. Those on ground will also keep them abreast about the situation.

The entire stretch will be sanitised several times manually with metal detectors and sniffer dogs.

To keep a tight vigil in the New Delhi and central Delhi area, police will deploy more than 5000 personnel along with motorbike and PCR van patrols.

Barricades and pickets have already been erected on all roads leading to Rajpath in order to control vehicular movement.

"The New Delhi area has been further divided into zones to restrict vehicular movement on Sunday with police personnel letting in only labelled vehicles and pass-holders in area around Rajpath," said Meena.

The Delhi Police has also asked parade-watchers to pay heed to instructions and not bring any prohibited items to avoid security hassles.