Centre issues security guidelines for VVIP road shows

Source: The post is based on the article “Centre issues security guidelines for VVIP road shows” published in The Hindu on 3rd April 2023

What is the News?

The Union government has issued an elaborate security advisory to States on the protection of highly threatened dignitaries such as VVIPs.

What are the security threats faced by VVIPs during road shows?

Prolonged exposure of the VVIPs during roadshows to large crowds and continuous travel through congested routes makes them vulnerable to attack by hostile elements.

For instance, in case of road shows running for several weeks or months, such hostile elements could conduct a dry run and then target the protected at an opportune time.

What are the guidelines issued by the Central Government for the protection of VVIPs during road shows?

State law-enforcing agencies should work closely with organizers of VVIP political events.

Routes for road shows should be chosen with abundant caution considering local intelligence inputs, evacuation options, access to safe houses and other contingency decisions.

Local police should conduct a thorough security audit of the route proposed for the VVIP programme.

Security components should include the deployment of adequate security personnel, use of bomb detectors, anti-sabotage checks at vulnerable places such as high-rise buildings, traffic management and crowd control measures.

In case of travel of VVIPs in open or on top of vehicles, arrangements should be made in such a manner that the visibility of the dignitary was ensured but at the same time with no compromise on the security protocol.

The focus of the proximity security personnel should be to protect the VVIPs in the event of any untoward incident and their positioning should be arranged so that it would facilitate easy evacuation.