NEW DELHI, Jan 12 - After effecting a major VIP security cut and withdrawal of SPG cover from the Gandhis, the Union government has now decided to completely remove NSG commandos from this task, official sources said.
This will be after over two decades that the �black cat� commandos of the elite counter-terror force will be taken out from VIP protection duties, a task not originally charted for it when the force was conceptualised and raised in 1984.
The force provides proximate and mobile security cover commandos armed with sophisticated assault weapons under the top �Z+� category to 13 �high-risk� VIPs that entails about two dozen personnel for each one of them.
Officials in the security establishment told PTI that the protection duties of NSG, which include giving security to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, will soon be transferred to paramilitary forces.
The other NSG protectees include ex-CMs Mayawati, Mulayam Singh, Chandrababu Naidu, Parkash Singh Badal and Farooq Abdullah, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, BJP leader and former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani.
Official sources said the Union Home Ministry �is of the view� that the National Security Guard (NSG) should concentrate on its original charter of handling specific tasks of counter-terrorist and anti-hijack operations and that the task of securing high-risk VIPs was proving to be a �burden� on its limited and special capabilities.
As per a plan being worked out, the security of the VIPs under NSG cover could be handed over to paramilitary forces such as the CRPF and the CISF. � PTI
