Govt spends Rs 800 million annually on VIP security

George Iype in New Delhi

The mounting expenditure to protect ministers and politicians coupled with the ostentatious display it has resulted in has forced the federal home ministry to revamp security arrangements for VIPs in the country.

The move to tone down VIP security comes in the wake of a large number of complaints that the ministry has received from members of Parliament, businessmen, government servants and the common man on how they have been suffering daily traffic snarl-ups due to VIP movements across the country.

A recent report on VIP security prepared by the ministry to be tabled in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament says the cost of shielding VIPs has more than doubled. While in 1993, the government spent nearly Rs 400 million to protect VIPs, the expenditure skyrocketed to more than Rs 800 million in 1996.

According to the home ministry, there are as many as 800 VIPs on the government's protected list, most of whom stay in the capital. They include federal ministers, top politicians, MPs, bureaucrats and judges.

The ministry has arranged a three-layer security set up for VIPs. The prime minister, his family members, former prime ministers and their families are entitled to protection provided by the elite Special Protection Group. This alone cost the exchequer Rs 350 million last year.

There are 32 people on the SPG's protected list including Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, members of his family, former prime ministers P V Narasimha Rao, V P Singh, A B Vajpayee and Chandra Shekhar and their families. The SPG cover has also been extended to the late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's wife, Sonia Gandhi, and her children.

Ministry sources said the cost of SPG cover for each person works out to be more than Rs 12.5 million every year.

The second category of security -- the-Z-plus cover -- is provided by the National Security Guard and some 25 persons avail of it. Interestingly, they include controversial politicians like former Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalitha Jayaram, Congress leaders like Sajjan Kumar, H K L Bhagat, Jagdish Tytler and Matang Singh, Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati.

The cost of providing NSG cover to these 25 leaders is more than Rs 120 million annually.

The third layer of security is provided by the Delhi police to more than 700 people including ministers, MPs, bureaucrats and judges. While the Delhi police deploys more than 10,000 personnel on security duty for these VIPs, the home ministry continues to be flooded by demands for fresh security from MPs.

A top home ministry official told Rediff On The NeT that the government is seriously planning an exercise to make the security less ostentatious for VIPs and less obnoxious for the common man.

''We are considering a proposal to adopt security methods used by the United States and Israel for our VIPs," he said. Both countries, he added, offer complete protection to their leaders and VIPs without resorting to the ostentatious security that Indian VIPs enjoy.

Home ministry official concede that though there is a high threat perception to the prime minister and some other VIPs, they feel the harassment of the common man could be avoided if the security methods are upgraded.

Among the measures that will come up for discussion between the different intelligent agencies include how to avoid closing roads for hours together to allow the VIP to pass, on how to reduce traffic snarl-ups due to VIP movement and scrapping the idea of security men shouting orders on microphones on patrol vehicles when the VIPs are on the move.