It may sound unbelievable, but it actually happened. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi set out to attend the AIIMS convocation ceremony on October 20, his 12-car cavalcade passed straight through the thick of traffic with no blockades along the way to ease its journey.
The issue has been a vexed one. There have been innumerable complaints over the years from common commuters who are forced to take long detours or remain stuck in traffic snarls for hours because of the blockades put up to facilitate VVIP movement.
But top police sources told Mail Today that things have changed under the new prime minister.
In an unprecedented occurrence, no roads were blocked as the PM made his way to and from AIIMS last week and commuters allowed passage on the same carriageway as his cavalcade.
The only measure taken by way of protection was maintaining a 100-metre gap between the traffic and vehicles at the convoy’s tail and head.
The change follows two major incidents wherein the movement of Modi’s cavalcade and the confusion thus triggered put the PM in a sticky situation.
In the first, traffic movement in South Delhi was disrupted for around three hours as the prime minister made his way to a hospital in Saket to meet his Cabinet colleague Arun Jaitley last month. Social media subsequently blew up with photographs of stalled traffic on the route.
The second incident occurred on October 2, when Modi made a stopover at the Mandir Marg station immediately after launching his Swachh India campaign.
Taking note of the messy premises, Modi asked the personnel why they didn’t keep their workplace clean. A constable replied it was because most of the police personnel were usually deployed on the PM’s security detail when he moved around the Capital.
The remark hurt, and Modi began a review of the security arrangements immediately.
The deployment of 50-odd policemen at just one barricade on Tees January Marg where incoming traffic had also been stopped was one of the examples that came up later in talks between Delhi Police and the Prime Minister’s Office, and instructions were issued the very next day that only the necessary number of police personnel be assigned for the PM’s security.
The PMO also directed the Delhi Police that traffic restrictions should be minimal, and demanded an end to the practice of blocking commuter passage on the opposite carriageway.
However, though the police have honoured the directions for easy commuter passage, they have gone against the minimal deployment directive to instead position more personnel along the PM’s route, albeit in plain-clothes to cloud the ‘defiance’.
“A few days ago, when PM Modi was en route somewhere, around 70 per cent of the security personnel were directed to wear civil dress and hide themselves behind bus-stands, utility poles and bushes if need be,” a senior police officer added.
Simple living,high thinking.
The issue has been a vexed one. There have been innumerable complaints over the years from common commuters who are forced to take long detours or remain stuck in traffic snarls for hours because of the blockades put up to facilitate VVIP movement.
But top police sources told Mail Today that things have changed under the new prime minister.
In an unprecedented occurrence, no roads were blocked as the PM made his way to and from AIIMS last week and commuters allowed passage on the same carriageway as his cavalcade.
The only measure taken by way of protection was maintaining a 100-metre gap between the traffic and vehicles at the convoy’s tail and head.
The change follows two major incidents wherein the movement of Modi’s cavalcade and the confusion thus triggered put the PM in a sticky situation.
In the first, traffic movement in South Delhi was disrupted for around three hours as the prime minister made his way to a hospital in Saket to meet his Cabinet colleague Arun Jaitley last month. Social media subsequently blew up with photographs of stalled traffic on the route.
The second incident occurred on October 2, when Modi made a stopover at the Mandir Marg station immediately after launching his Swachh India campaign.
Taking note of the messy premises, Modi asked the personnel why they didn’t keep their workplace clean. A constable replied it was because most of the police personnel were usually deployed on the PM’s security detail when he moved around the Capital.
The remark hurt, and Modi began a review of the security arrangements immediately.
The deployment of 50-odd policemen at just one barricade on Tees January Marg where incoming traffic had also been stopped was one of the examples that came up later in talks between Delhi Police and the Prime Minister’s Office, and instructions were issued the very next day that only the necessary number of police personnel be assigned for the PM’s security.
The PMO also directed the Delhi Police that traffic restrictions should be minimal, and demanded an end to the practice of blocking commuter passage on the opposite carriageway.
However, though the police have honoured the directions for easy commuter passage, they have gone against the minimal deployment directive to instead position more personnel along the PM’s route, albeit in plain-clothes to cloud the ‘defiance’.
“A few days ago, when PM Modi was en route somewhere, around 70 per cent of the security personnel were directed to wear civil dress and hide themselves behind bus-stands, utility poles and bushes if need be,” a senior police officer added.
Simple living,high thinking.
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