The Delhi police are hard at work making special arrangements to ensure smooth vehicular movement during the arrival of the high-profile delegates, including heads of states for the mega event. The 18th Heads of State and Government Summit of the G20 (Group of 20) is scheduled to begin next month in the national capital under India’s presidency.
In order to review the restriction and diversion arrangements, Delhi traffic police on Monday morning conducted a mock drill exercise on major roads connecting Pragati Maidan, the summit’s main venue, with a number of hotels. As part of the exercise, several teams of traffic police officers were stationed at various intersections, and barricades were built at intersections and diversion points.
The summit will take place at the recently opened Bharat Mandapam International Exhibition and Convention Center at Pragati Maidan. The Delhi Police have been making preparations for a while, and they are currently training personnel who will be stationed in various locations. Police are also teaching their employees how to handle chemical and biological weapons while emphasizing their soft skills.
Nineteen “markswomen” of the Delhi Police, women commandos of its Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit have undergone a four-week specialised training course, conducted by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) at its training centre in Karera, Madhya Pradesh.
Apart from this, Delhi Police has procured special kinds of weapons, ammunition, bulletproof jackets and X-ray machines.
“G20 is a matter of great pride for India, its main event is to be held in the month of September, in view of that anti-terror measures are being taken, swat commandos are at the forefront of anti-terror measures,” Ingit Pratap Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Special Cell said on the precautions being taken for the Summit.
“We have trained 19 SWAT commandos as markswomen in urban scenarios, they are different from snipers. The training was held for four weeks in MP’s Karera,” he said.
The G20 Summit is slated to take place on September 9-10 at a recently-inaugurated state-of-the-art Bharat Mandapam convention centre at Pragati Maidan.