NEW DELHI: The Centre has ordered the complete withdrawal of counter-terrorist commando force NSG from VIP security duties, handing over its nine “high-risk” VIPs to the CRPF by the next month, sources said on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has also sanctioned a fresh battalion of specially trained personnel, recently withdrawn from Parliament security duties, to be attached to the CRPF VIP security wing.
The ‘black cat’ commandos of the National Security Guard (NSG) provide ‘Z plus’ category protection to nine VIPs which include Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, his predecessor and BSP supremo Mayawati, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, veteran BJP leader and former deputy PM LK Advani and Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
The others include BJP leader and former Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh, former J&K CM Ghulam Nabi Azad, NC president Farooq Abdullah and Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu.
The transfer of duties between the two forces under the MHA is expected to be completed within a month, sources said. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which has six VIP security battalions, has been asked to absorb a seventh battalion for this purpose.
The fresh battalion is the one that used to guard the Parliament till a few months back. After a security breach that took place last year, the Parliament security was handed over to the CISF from the CRPF, a senior officer said.