PM Modi's 'security breach': 2,000 cops deployed on contigency route

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 5

The alleged security breach during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Ferozepur today has not only resulted in a blame-game between central and state governments, but also trigerred an alarm among security agencies ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections likely to be held next month.

It seems both state and central security agencies failed to identify the loopholes in their arrangements for the PM’s visit to a district situated close to the International Border with Pakistan.

Modi was visiting the state close on the heels of a bomb blast in the Ludhiana court complex, and seizures of tiffin bombs and weapons supplied by Pakistani agencies to terror modules in Punjab.

It is probably for the first time in Punjab that the Prime Minister had to return because of a blockade by protesters en route. Security officials say that probably for the first time, a 140-km road stretch was marked as the “contingency route” for the Prime Minister and his entourage.

As per schedule, PM Modi landed at the Bhisiana Air Force Station at 10.25 am. He was supposed to fly in a helicopter to Ferozepur, but for the bad weather, the PM’s cavalcade took the road (contingency plan) around 11.15 am.

It was well reported in the media that several groups of farmers were protesting in and around Ferozepur.

Sources say the Punjab Police had deployed more than 2,000 personnel on the contingency route, while national security agencies were deputed for the land and air surveillance.

Notably, the entire route was within the 50-km radius of the International Border. This means that it fell in the jurisdiction of the BSF, as per a recent order of the central government.

Inquiries made by The Tribune revealed that senior Bathinda police officials led PM Modi’s cavalcade from the Bhisiana airport to their area. Officials of Faridkot and Moga districts followed the same protocol. The PM’s entourage traversed 130 km without encountering any problem. The alleged security breach took place about 10 km short of Modi’s destination at Piarena village. It was 1.30 pm then.

The BKU (Krantikari) was already camping on the elevated part on the national highway and had blocked one part of the road. Neither Punjab nor central security agencies could pre-empt the trouble at this spot.

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