Earning their stripes

A little over a week before the Commonwealth Games began,Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard issued a particularly insensitive travel advisory in which she sought to highlight the high risk of terrorism in New Delhi. She may have been the most high-profile figure who expressed security concerns,but there were,no doubt,plenty of others who had similar concerns,including the athletes. Those concerns must now seem embarrassingly misplaced in hindsight,courtesy the first-rate security arrangements on display throughout the Games at the venues,at the Games Village and across the entire city that ensured an entirely incident-free event.It is,of course,impossible to declare the security of an event of this scale foolproof in advance. If indeed such a declaration were made,it would lack credibility. However,what is possible is to have a well-thought-out,well-coordinated,and well-executed security drill. And that is precisely what was delivered at the CWG. It was never going to be an easy task. For a start,Delhi is a sprawling city of around 1.5 crore people which makes securing every bit of it a difficult task. The 17 venues for the various events,plus the Games Village,were spread across different parts of the city. There were thousands of athletes and officials from visiting delegations that needed security details in attendance. And the need to secure travel routes without causing unnecessary disruption to Delhis citizens. In the end,all of this was done with a seriousness and professionalism that is worth the highest praise unusually for Delhi,even VIPs were frisked at various venues.

The credit must,of course,be shared by the various agencies involved in this mammoth task multiple intelligence agencies,the Delhi police,paramilitary forces like the CISF and CRPF,and the police forces of so many states some from as far away as Nagaland and Tripura who reported for duty in the national capital. At the apex of these forces,doing much of the hard coordination work,was the Union home ministry. All of them put together are the real,somewhat unsung,stars of the Commonwealth Games.