Punjab police withdraw 800 cops deployed with VIPs

About 800 personnel deployed with VIPs, including politicians, have been withdrawn by the Punjab police following a review of the security cover provided to various protectees in the state.

“About 800 police personnel have been withdrawn from various protectees. The security has been reviewed on the basis of threat perception, intelligence and norms,” a senior police official said in Chandigarh on Friday.

However, those who were being given ‘Z plus’ and ‘Y plus’ security cover will continue to get the same, he said, adding fresh threat perception reports were also being prepared to ascertain the threat level to various individuals as part of security review exercise.

During the previous SAD-BJP regime, several political leaders were allegedly enjoying police security more than the prescribed norms.

The new Congress-led Punjab government has committed to end VIP culture and prune their security which was being shown as a status symbol by many political leaders.

After Amarinder Singh formed the government, the director general of police Suresh Arora had constituted a state-level review committee (SLRC) under the chairmanship of DGP (law and order) Hardeep Singh Dhillon to review the security provided by the state police to various ‘protectees’.

The committee has mandate to carry out a comprehensive review of the security provided to constitutional or public functionaries, officers as well as private individuals.

An interim report and two supplementary reports on review of security cover have already been submitted to the Punjab DGP, the official said.

Other members of the committee are ADGP intelligence Dinkar Gupta, ADGP security BK Bawa as member secretary and IGP (special protection unit) Pramod Ban.