An elaborate security cover has been thrown over the national capital ahead of Independence Day with thousands of armed security personnel deployed across the city to keep a hawk-eyed vigil and prevent any terror attacks.
Central security agencies have given inputs to police that Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba may try to target markets or places of strategic importance in the city.
A ground-to-air security system has been put in place near the Red Fort where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will unfurl the Tricolour and make his address to the nation on Thursday.
Thousands of Delhi police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed at the airport and at market places, railway stations, inter-state bus terminals and metro stations.
"We are maintaining a high vigil ahead of Independence Day celebrations. We are all alert," said a senior police official.
Besides patrolling of the skies by helicopters, an air defence mechanism will also be put in place around Red Fort.
The alert by central security agencies quoted a paragraph from a speech by LeT founder Hafiz Saeed last month in Pakistan in which he openly threatens that his terrorists will carry out an attack in the national capital.
Hundreds of CCTVs have been installed in and around Red Fort with sharpshooters from NSG to be deployed on high-rises near the 17th century Mughal monument, officials said.
At least 80 companies of security forces (around 6,000 personnel), along with other security personnel in plainclothes, will be deployed at Red Fort and in its vicinity, said a senior police official.
