Centre reviews security for Olympics torch

The meeting was attended by representatives of the Indian Olympic Association, Delhi Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal and senior Delhi Government officials.

The flame reached Beijing in a special flight from Athens, Greece. It is scheduled to leave Beijing today for the Kazakh city of Almaty. The flame will travel to 135 cities 8211; covering 1,37,000 kilometres in 130 days 8211; and is scheduled to reach New Delhi on April 17. It will finally reach Beijing8217;s National Stadium on 8 August for the opening ceremony.

The meeting to review security came days after Chinese Ambassador Zhang Yan met Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and asked for effective steps to keep a check on Tibetan pro-independence protestors during the Olympic torch8217;s progress through India. National Security Advisor M K Narayanan has already said that all steps will be taken to ensure a safe passage for the torch in India. The Ambassador had, however, expressed satisfaction at the steps India had taken to address Chinese concerns.

After violence in Lhasa, Tibetan exiles had set off on a freedom march from Dharamshala to New Delhi and the Chinese Government is apprehensive that they could try to use the torch ceremony to embarrass it over the Tibet issue.