DGP Neyaz Ahmed and home secretary JB Tubid inspect the the tennis court at Khelgaon on Tuesday. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Jan. 18: With less than a month left for the 34th National Games, the organisers are gearing up to throw a security blanket around players and VVIPs.

Work on setting up new barricades inside the Khelgaon complex to demarcate entry and exit points for dignitaries and the public is scheduled to start in two days.

This apart, forces deployed at the main athletics stadium will be assisted by a third eye. Around 80 closed-circuit television cameras will keep a watch on the stadium and its adjacent areas during the opening and closing ceremonies. A team of Echo warriors — a battalion comprising the best of all JAP jawans — will man the Mega Sports Complex in Hotwar.

“We are yet to chalk out a detailed security plan, which can be done only after we have spoken with the organisers. We will deploy more forces,” said inspector-general of police Rezi Dungdung, after a visit to the sports complex to take stock of security arrangements today.

State home secretary J.B. Tubid and Ranchi SSP Praveen Kumar were also present during the inspection.

Over 275 cameras have also been installed at the nine stadiums of the Mega Sports Complex.

Though sources claimed that the number of cameras was likely to shoot up to 300, home secretary Tubid was not happy with the functioning of the current ones.

“The cameras seem to be performing badly in low light conditions. This can be a very serious security issue,” Tubid pointed out.

He added that the technical staff had been instructed to install low-light cameras and make provisions for extra lighting outside all major Games venues.

“We will set up a central monitoring room at the main administrative building to view the feeds from the cameras,” said Jisso Devassy, head of operations of HCL.

Devassy added that all the stadiums would have separate control rooms that would direct feeds to the main server.

“A panel of 30 HCL technical experts will also work in tandem with the security officials to iron out glitches,” he said.