Commonwealth Games Delhi India 2010 Commonwealth Games India

Dec 21: The government has issued guidelines for the venue owners of the 2010 Commonwealth Games to take all possible security steps, including police verification of the workers, for safe conduct of the international sport extravaganza.

"Accordingly, steps have been taken by venue owners on police verification of the workers, perimeter security, access control
etc," a Home Ministry official said.

The construction plans for all venues, including the Commonwealth Games village, are being vetted by Delhi Police for security point of view.

The Home Ministry has already sanctioned Rs 78.26 crore to the Delhi Police to procure additional security equipment and vehicles to be required during the Commonwealth Games.

The fund would be spent to purchase equipment like X-Ray scanners, Door Frame Metal Detectors, Hand Held Metal Detectors, vehicles and communication equipment among others.

A major upgradation of the police control room has also been undertaken and 130 additional vehicles have been sanctioned for the police control room by the government.

"There is an extensive plan to install CCTV cameras in three phases all over the city," the official said.

Besides, the government has already sanctioned 12,612 posts to Delhi Police out of which 8,213 posts have been filled up specifically to strengthen security arrangements for the 2010 Games.

The Delhi Police is also having regular meetings with neighbouring states -- Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan -- to ensure close security coordination as a large number of foreigners coming to attend the Commonwealth Games would be visiting important tourist sites of these states, sources said.

An Empowered Security Committee headed by Union Home Secretary and a Commonwealth Games Security Review Committee headed by Additional Secretary have been constituted in the Home Ministry to review the security arrangement for the Games.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held in Delhi between October 3 and 14, 2010.

This will be the largest multi-sport event conducted to date in Delhi and India generally, which has previously hosted the Asian Games in 1951 and 1982. The opening ceremony is scheduled to take place at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here.

This is the first time the Commonwealth Games will be held in India, which will be the third developing country to host the event -- after Jamaica in 1966 and Malaysia in 1998. This is the second time the event has been held in Asia, after 1998.