CoP venue fortified for PMs visit

Over 15,000 city police and the United Nations Security personnel will keep vigil during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the Conference of Parties (COP 11) to the Convention on the Biological Diversity (CBD) at HICC on October 16.

The three-day High Level Segment of COP-11 will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister. Several Ministers, vice-ministers, ambassadors, senior officials of UN, multilateral agencies, private sector and civil society organisations will also participate.

Throwing light on the security arrangements for the PM’s visit, DGP Dinesh Reddy said he was satisfied with the security arrangements. “The Hyderabad City Police along with the UN Security personnel have been working very well. I am happy with the way things are going. Various drills are being conducted for the upcoming event. Till now, there were about 10,000 security personnel including the AP police, the Cyberabad police and the UN security. The security will be beefed up to 15,000 and there will be two levels of checking,” he said during a visit to the venue on Wednesday.

He informed that they were yet to take a call on the helipad for the Prime Minister’s chopper. “We are not sure where the PM’s chopper should land, as the PM travels in Mi 8 and Mi 18 choppers which are really bulky. Due to the wind velocity, the temporary structures installed at the venue can get blown away,” he said.

The city police have also upgraded gadgets and security equipment. “Initially, you would have seen the security personnel manually using mirrors to check vehicles at the gates. But now we have an automated scanning device installed underground, sealed by a glass sheet near the gate, which will scan the vehicle,” the DGP expounded.

Apart from this, there are over 98 CCTV cameras at the venue. “There will be perfect access control as everybody can enter only with a pass. There will also be mobile X-ray devices. We have brought in everything of international standards. The UN security team were perplexed to see the facilities here,” Dinesh Reddy said.  When there is VIP movement, traffic diversion is a part of the event.