Former prime ministers will no longer be entitled to Special Protection Group (SPG) security cover for more than one year after demitting office unless the government thinks it’s required on basis of threat perception. Minister of State for Home I.D. Swami said in Lok Sabha that ‘‘manpower constraints of SPG and financial burden’’ borne by the government has made it necessary to reduce the security cover. The total expenditure on SPG was Rs 556 crore, with the annual expenditure being Rs 75 crore, he said. The House, following a debate, passed the SPG (Amendment) Bill by a voice vote reducing proximate security to former PMs and their spouses to one year, and for their immediate family to three months. At present former PMs enjoy SPG cover for a period of 10 years, liable to be continued on basis of threat perception. Now security cover will continue on the basis of an annual threat assessment done by the Ministry of Home Affairs. In case of the immediate family, the cover will continue, subject to review on a case to case basis. Swami said that while assessing the level of threat, not only will terrorists and terrorist organisations be taken into account but also threat from mafia and other quarters. Former PMs and their spouses will also be provided proximate security on their visits abroad based on entitlement to such security cover and the level of threat as assessed by the Central government, he added.
