With the 18th Heads of State and Government Summit of the G20 (Group of 20), scheduled to begin next month in the national capital under India’s presidency, Delhi police authorities are busy making special arrangements to ensure smooth vehicular movement during the arrival of the high-profile delegates, including heads of states for the mega event. As part of the preparations, Delhi traffic police on Monday morning conducted a mock drill exercise on major roads connecting Pragati Maidan – the main venue of the summit, with various hotels, to review restriction and diversion arrangements.
Multiple teams of traffic police personnel were deployed at different junctions and barricades were erected at diversion points and junctions as part of the exercise.
The venue of the summit will be the newly opened International Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre named ‘Bharat Mandapam’ at Pragati Maidan.
Delhi Police started preparations a few months ago and training staff who are to be deployed at various locations is on.
In addition, police are training their staff to handle chemical and biological weapons and also focus on 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.
Many heads of state and diplomats including US President Joe Biden, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron are expected to be attending the G20 Leaders’ Summit.
The 18th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit in Delhi will be a culmination of all the G20 processes and meetings held throughout the year among ministers, senior officials, and civil societies.
