Metro Station Around Rajpath to Close Ahead of Republic Day as Delhi Goes on Highest Alert

New Delhi: Metro stations around Rajpath will be closed to the public from the evening of Sunday, January 25, as the national capital is turned into an fortress for the visit of US President Barack Obama, who will be the chief guest at this year's Republic Day celebrations the next day.

"President Obama's security is our responsibility we should not make it a big issue," said junior home minister Kiran Rijiju this morning.

Rajpath, the 3 km stretch on which the parade is held, will have about 165 CCTV cameras. Which means a camera every 180 metres.  A total 15,000 CCTV cameras have being installed in the capital and American security personnel will be part of the teams that man the control rooms set up to watch the footage.

About 40,000 to 45,000 security personnel will be on deployed on January 26 and approach roads to the India Gate circle, ITC Maurya Sheraton, where the US president will stay, will be cordoned off.

There will also be huge security deployment at the hotel, not far from where the Republic Day celebrations will be held. Most of the buildings within a radius of two km will have snipers stationed on them while the parade is on.

A seven-layer security ring is planned around the VVIP enclosure on Rajpath from where US President Barack Obama, President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra  Modi will watch the Republic Day parade next Monday.

The airspace over the area will be monitored by a radar that is being specially set up, as unprecedented ground-to-air security is put in place to turn the national capital into an fortress during the visit of President Obama, who will be the first American President to be Chief Guest at the Republic Day celebrations on January 26.

Because President Obama will be on an open air platform at Rajpath for more than two hours when he witnesses the parade, there is the  possibility that the VVIP enclosure will be put behind a bullet-proof shield, sources have said.

There is also a possibility that the chief guest, for the first time, will arrive at the venue separately rather than with the President in his own bullet-proof limousine, they said. If he does follow protocol and arrives with President Mukherjee, Mr Obama will possibly be the first US President not to travel in his own highly-secured 'Beast'.

A multi-agency control room will monitor surveillance operations in every area of Delhi which has been put on the highest alert because of the visit of the US President. President Obama will arrive next  Sunday, January 25, with his wife Michelle on a three-day visit.