New Delhi, Dec. 18: The Centre has decided to downsize the security of nearly 60 MPs, including law minister H.R. Bhardwaj and at least nine other ministers, sources said.

The decision coincides with a perceived wave of public anger against politicians in the wake of the Mumbai attacks and an assessment that security services are short of manpower.

If the home ministry’s proposal is implemented without modifications, the security provided to all categories of VIPs — Z-plus, Z, Y and X — will be reviewed and spare manpower diverted to “more productive duties”, the sources said.

Category Y, which most MPs enjoy, is expected to be affected the most by the review. Each VIP in the segment can be guarded by a personal security officer and up to four Delhi policemen — the number of cops decided by the threat perception. Under the downsizing plan, the personal security officer will remain but two of the policemen will be withdrawn.

The sources added that if the rollback was extended to the Z-plus category, which has 27 VIPs, as many as 50 commandos of the National Security Guard could be spared for training and upgrading skills. Old-timers had suggested that commandos should be kept away from day-to-day guard duty to help hone their fighting skills and reflexes.

Ministers of state in the UPA government, Mohammed Taslimuddin and Kanti Singh from Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal and K.H. Muniappa of the Congress, are among those who will have smaller security rings.

However, some murmurs of scepticism have already risen. “Downsizing will not help until you properly train and arm the policemen who are being withdrawn. Are the VIPs expected to use the gun themselves?” said Karol Bagh MP Krishna Tirath whose security has been scaled down from three policemen to one. She was given security after someone shot at her car.