Abid Bashir
Srinagar, May 9: Three back to back review meetings were chaired by Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla in Srinagar on G-20 arrangements, security plan and the management of Lakes and Rivers, in Srinagar on Tuesday, reliable sources said.
The meetings were held at SKICC, on the banks of Dal Lake, which is also the main venue for the upcoming G-20 event. Sources said that the first meeting started at 12:30 pm, where officers from the Tourism Department, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Vijay Kumar Bidhuri, Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Aijaz Asad besides other officials were present.
“The first round of the meeting discussed arrangements made and to be made for the G20 event. The officials from the tourism department briefed Bhalla about the preparations and accommodation arrangements for the G-20 guests. Necessary changes were made to the plan to ensure safe and secure accommodation to the guests,” a source privy to the venue, revealed.
He said that the second round of meeting, also chaired by the Union Home Secretary took a detailed review of the security arrangements for the G-20 event. “Director IB was also present in the meeting besides, J&K Home Secretary R K Goyal. DGP Dilbagh Singh, ADGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar, GoC 15 Corps were present in the meeting besides officials from the other security agencies,” the source said.
He said that the meeting discussed threadbare the security arrangements for the G-20 meeting and the challenges. “The plan prepared by the J&K’s security grid that entails plugging and foiling all possible threats including Vehicle-borne IEDs, fidayeen attacks, sticky bomb threat, drone attacks and grenade attacks were discussed and counter strategy framed and finalized,” the source said, adding that “deployment of marine commandos and NSG in Lakes and rivers was also given a final touch.”
The source said that it was also decided the accommodation venue and the event venue will be guarded and sanitized 10-days ahead G-20 summit and both places will have aerial surveillance through drones.
The G-20 events are slated for May 22-May 24 in Srinagar. This will be the first time that G-20 events will be held in Srinagar under India’s presidency. J&K administration has already stated that the event was a great opportunity to showcase the tourism potential of the J&K and to give a global push to the UT’s tourism, which is the backbone of the total economy of the region. The meeting discussed that the army will keep a vigil on highways and other vital road links. “Special directions were passed to keep a close watch on the suspects to avoid any untoward incident,” he said.
The third round of the meeting discussed the Lakes and river management. Sources said that the Union Home Secretary expressed satisfaction over the decision of handing over the security of lakes and rivers to marine commandos and NSG. VC Lakes and Waterways Development Authority was also present on the occasion.
