Multi-layered security cover for Hillary Clinton in Delhi

Security agencies have swung into action to provide multi-layered and impenetrable security to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her two-day visit to the national capital that begins Sunday. US intelligence officials have been consulted over the preparations, the police said Friday.

Clinton, who arrives in Mumbai Friday night, is scheduled to arrive in the national capital Sunday afternoon. She will be staying at the Taj Palace Hotel, on Sardar Patel Marg here.

"She has been given top diplomat-level security and so far there is no threat whatsoever. A multi-layer security cover will be in place. All security measures have been taken in consultation with officials of US intelligence agencies," sources in the Delhi Police told IANS.

Security agencies have placed bomb disposal squads, spotters and dog squads, and anti-sabotage teams in different parts of the hotel.

"Many commandos and intelligence officials will be in plain clothes and the hotel security staff has already been briefed. The instructions from security agencies have been passed on to them."

The floor on which the US secretary of state will be staying was not revealed to the media, but officials said the floor will be closed from Sunday morning.

Arrangements have been made to deploy additional police control room (PCR) vehicles and an ambulance in case of an emergency.

The Delhi Police and Intelligence Bureau are working together on the security issue. US officials have also reviewed the arrangements made.

In addition, around 1,500 security personnel have been deployed along the routes that Clinton will be taking to commute around the city. She is scheduled to attend a Delhi Climate Change Summit at the ITC Greens Building in Gurgaon and an agriculture event at the Pusa Institute in central Delhi on Sunday. She will visit Delhi University in north Delhi on Monday.

Clinton also has several political engagements for Monday, including meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani and External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna. There will be a media interaction too on that day.

Clinton last visited the Indian capital in 2000 when she accompanied her husband, then US president Bill Clinton, and they stayed at the Maurya Sheraton Hotel.

Last updated on Jul 17^th, 2009 at 17:10 pm IST--IANS