Thick Security Cover Along Route

THE MOST powerful man on earth set his foot on the Capital's soil this evening.

A thick wrap of security shrouded everything on his route, making it impossible for most citizens to peer past the barricades and soak in the moment.

Starting early this afternoon, the entire stretch from the Air Force air base at Palam to Maurya Sheraton stood fortified with at least a 1,000-odd policemen from the Delhi police and the paramilitary forces lining every square yard.

"At least 55,000 men and women from the Delhi Police and other forces are perhaps on guard this evening," observed a traffic constable as he thrust his hands into a fresh pair of white gloves supplied especially for the occasion. "Of them, over a 1,000 are from traffic alone."

 

For these men in uniform, this evening's chores went beyond the mundane.

Protocol was a significant part of the routine with an officer perennially circling the route in his Gypsy, watching traffic constables like a hawk to identify even the slightest violation in the dress code. All sleeves had to be neatly rolled down; neon jackets properly tucked in. Any variation meant a blaring order on the microphone from the Gypsy.

For the security personnel, the brief entailed a different beat.

Till minutes before the US President's cavalcade streamed past them, hundreds of them could be seen thrusting their batons into the bushes looking for any suspicious object strewn around.

To oversee and assist them in their work were scores of PCR vans and senior officers who dotted the area outside the landing site, with fire engines and cranes as back up.

The style followed was similar to an assembly-line functioning with each man on duty not knowing anything beyond his brief.