Standing committed to its promise of delivering an “incident-free” Commonwealth Games, the Delhi police heaved a sigh of relief on Thursday evening as the closing ceremony drew to an end at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here.
Although the security preparations in the run up to the Games were marred by a shooting incident in the Old Delhi’s Jama Masjid area in which two Taiwanese nationals were injured on September 19 and a shadow was cast over the preparations, the Delhi police impressively pulled off the mammoth task of securing the Games and lived up to the expectations of worried foreign delegates and participating athletes.
“We had planned the preparations six months before the Games started and the procurement of weaponry and all the gadgetry was made in advance. The forces were issued specific and point-wise instructions on their roles and contingency plans were prepared months before the Games started. Our forces have done a commendable job,” joint commissioner of the Delhi police, Karnal Singh, said. Asked whether the force could have handled the security of games in a better way, given the number of troops that were deployed in the national capital, Mr Singh said, “We will examine that.”
Top police sources revealed that there were specific intelligence inputs about the terrorists planning to strike in the national capital during the Games but the preparations made by the police ensured that the attempts made by the terrorists were thwarted and the overall supervision of the Games vis-à-vis traffic management and security was handled flawlessly.
There were 80,000 security personnel patrolling the national capital and a four tier security plan was devised around Games venues and Games Village to ensure that the athletes, foreign delegates and spectators are secured from any untoward incident. The police has erected barricades at all the routes leading to the Games venues and Games village and motorists were subjected to constant checking to prevent terrorists from infiltrating into these places. Although, there were complaints made by spectators about the inconvenience caused by frisking, the Delhi police faced the criticism and ensured that it lived to the promise made before the games started.