Home Secretary briefs envoys on security arrangements for Games

Union Home Secretary G K Pillai today briefed heads of missions of various countries about the security measures being taken by India for the Commonwealth Games to be hosted by Delhi in October next year.

The briefings were organised by the International Security Liaison Group in the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Some 30 heads of missions of Commonwealth member-countries or their representatives attended the briefing, an official press release said.

While the Ministry of Sports and the Organising Committee of the Games made presentations on the status of infrastructure and logistics, respectively, the Intelligence Bureau and the Delhi Police gave presentations on security arrangements for the sportspersons, officials and visitors.

The International Security Liaison Group will hold another two-day international conference of security liaison officers of the participating countries and the Commonwealth Games Associations on September 23-24.

According to the release, those who participated in the meeting expressed satisfaction with the security arrangements.

It said such meetings were intended to apprise the participating countries of the security arrangements being put in place for the Games and also to address their concerns, if any, well on time.

The release said the Home Ministry, the nodal ministry for security of the Games, has taken several measures to ensure a safe and secure conduct of the Games.

The inter-ministerial Empowered Security Committee under the chairmanship of the Home Secretary has laid down detailed security guidelines and closely monitors the ongoing security arrangements, it said.

The Governments of Delhi as well as the neighbouring states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are represented at the level of Chief Secretary in the Empowered Security Committee.

There are other committees to attend to specialized security functions for the Games. The Home Ministry has constituted the International Security Liaison Group for security liaison with the participating Commonwealth countries, it said.

The XIX Commonwealth Games are slated to be held here from Ocotber 3-14, 2010. Eleven of the 13 competition venues are in Delhi, while one is in Haryana and the other in Uttar Pradesh.

About 9000 athletes and officials of the 52 Commonwealth member-countries are expected to participate in the Games.

Several heads of state and government as well as other dignitaries are likely to attend the opening and closing ceremonies. The Games are also expected to attract large numbers of foreign visitors as well as spectators from within India.

NNN