The National Security Guard, which guards some of the most high-risk VVIPs in the country, will enhance the security of its protectees akin to the level rendered by the Special Protection Group (SPG) which secures the Prime Minister.
NSG chief Jayanto N Choudhury said the elite commando force has recently written to the Ministry of Home Affairs with an intention that the counter-terror force should undergo an "audit" of its functioning alongwith VVIP security tasks as done annually in the case of the SPG.
The 'black cats' of the force, at present, guard 17 'Z+' category VVIPs which includes BJP patriarch L K Advani, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, his Tamil Nadu counterpart J Jayalalithaa, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh, Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, BSP chief Mayawati, central Minister Farooq Abdullah, BJP President Rajnath Singh and DMK chief K Karunanidhi.
"My mandate is to give the best security to the 17 protectees that we have. We are making efforts that they can have that security close to what the SPG coverage is," Choudhury told reporters on the sidelines of a conference here.
He said as the SPG functions under an Act, it has better resources and manpower to render its duty.
The move to enhance the security of NSG protectees assumes significance as the coming general elections will see a lot of movement by these personalities, majority of whom are political and government figures.
