New Delhi, April 4: The central government has decided that National Security Guard personnel will protect Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath despite a request from the specialised commando force to keep it away from VIP security duties and reduce its workload.
The NSG - or the Black Cats as they are called - had originally been set up to combat terror.
But the Centre last week decided to upgrade Adityanath's security cover to the highest "Z-plus" category, citing a high threat perception, and also took the final call of according him NSG cover.
An NSG official said the decision came as a "shock" for the force that was raised in 1984 following Operation Blue Star. "Two months back we had urged the home ministry to reduce the workload of the specialised force by relieving it of VVIP duties and they assured us they would look into it," he said. "The news (that Adityanath would get NSG cover) came as a shock as we expected they would not add to the number of VIPs being already given NSG cover."
NSG commandos now protect 14 VIPs, including Union home minister Rajnath Singh, BJP veteran Lal Krishna Advani and three former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav.
VIPs given NSG cover are protected by around 40 commandos and are also entitled to a bullet-proof car and escort vehicles. Most other VIPs are protected by the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
The Prime Minister, former Prime Ministers and their families, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, son Rahul, daughter Priyanka and Priyanka's family get Special Protection Group (SPG) cover. The President has his own guards.
Adityanath had been getting "Y"-category security - 11 paramilitary guards - even before he became chief minister. After his anointment, it was decided that special commandos from Uttar Pradesh police and a contingent of CISF personnel would protect him, apart from the Y-category cover he had been enjoying.
There are two other categories of VIP cover: "Z" (24 paramilitary guards) and "X" (2 guards). On average, VIP security costs the exchequer nearly Rs 380 crore a year.
An NSG official said VIP status was "only related to privilege", while expressing concern at the increasing number of people being accorded VIP security under the Narendra Modi government.
Sources in the home ministry said 418 VIPs were given security cover in 2014 but the number rose to 450 in 2015 and 469 in 2016. "During UPA rule more and more Congress politicians and their family members got security cover. The BJP is doing the same. The government has changed, not the practices," a North Block official said.
Last year the Centre had said it was thinking of implementing the 2002 recommendations of a group of ministers (GoM) that had suggested the CISF be ideally assigned the task of VIP security.
It had also suggested that the NSG, ITBP, the CRPF and other security agencies be relieved of VIP duties so that they could focus on the tasks they had been created for.
