India spent Rs 1.62 crore a day for PM security

NEW DELHI:The Special Protection Group (SPG) only has the prime minister under its cover while the CRPF secures 56 important people in the country, the government informed Parliament on Tuesday.nnWithout naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy in a written reply in Lok Sabha said the SPG protects only one person.nnAccording to a recent amendment in the SPG Act, the force now protects the prime minister and members of his immediate family residing with him at his official residence.nnIt will also provide security to former prime ministers and their immediate family members staying with them at the residence allotted for a period of five years from the date on which they cease to hold the office.nnThe Union government has recently entrusted the security of five ex-SPG protectees–former PM Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra– to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).nnThe minister, when asked to provide the list of persons whose security has been withdrawn or has been granted since 2014, refused to disclose details for “security reasons.”nn”Security is provided on the basis of threat assessment by central security agency. It is subject to periodic review. Based on such review, the security cover is continued or modified.”nn”The details of individuals and their security cannot be disclosed due to security reasons,” Reddy said.nnUnion Budget 2020 has made an allocation of Rs 592.5 crore for the SPG, nnThe question gains significance in the view of the budgetary allocation made for the SPG, a 3,000-strong force of special commandos, in the Union Budget 2020-21. The elite SPG force has got Rs 592.55 crore for 2020-21 – an increase of about 10 per cent in budgetary allocation, according IndiaToday Report.nnThis hike was unexpected in the sense that before the SPG Act was amended last year, the elite force was responsible for protection of four VIPs. The other three were Gandhis – Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.nnThe budgetary allocation for four SPG protectees in 2019-20 was Rs 540.16 crore. This made per capita cost of security cover at Rs 135 crore, that is, average cost of protecting the four VIPs – PM Modi and the three Gandhis – was Rs 135 crore each. This means that per capita cost of SPG cover increases by almost 340 per cent this year.nnThe SPG came into being in the aftermath of the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Her son Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister at the time. The force was created for the protection of the prime minister and immediate family. Rajiv, Sonia and their children Rahul and Priyanka became automatic SPG protectees.nnWith the change of power in 1989, the VP Singh government withdrew SPG cover to the Gandhis. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991. The Congress returned to power the same year. PV Narasimha Rao became the prime minister, apparently on the recommendation of Sonia Gandhi. Rao government restored SPG cover to the Gandhis. They continued to have SPG cover till November last year, when the Modi government decided to replace it with CRPF security cover.nnAll this while, the SPG budget continued to grow. It has almost doubled since 2015-15 when the Modi government first came to power. In 2014-15, SPG was allocated Rs 289 crore which increased to Rs 330 crore in 2015-16.nnA sharp spike was seen in budgetary allocation for the SPG in 2019-20 to Rs 535 crore, from Rs 385 crore in 2018-19. It was an election year which meant all the four SPG protectees of the time – PM Modi, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi – were likely to undertake extensive tour of the country, thereby swelling the SPG bill.nnWith another 10 per cent hike in budgetary allocation in 2020-21, the cost of SPG cover for PM Modi has sharply grown. At Rs 592 crore, the cost of protecting the prime minister comes at about Rs 1.62 crore a day or about Rs 6.75 lakh an hour or Rs 11,263 a minute.nnBeing the ace campaigner for the BJP, PM Modi is the most sought after party leader even in state elections. This entails much more domestic tours for PM Modi. This was, however, not the case with his predecessor Manmohan Singh.nnWith PTI Inputs