Around 450 drivers of the CRPF’s VIP security wing have been trained to pilot the special left-hand-driven and bullet-protected vehicles that will be used to ferry foreign dignitaries who will be participating in the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Delhi next week, official sources said.
A fleet of both bullet-resistant and non-bullet-resistant Audi, Mercedes, BMW, and Hyundai Genesis cars have been hired or purchased by the Union government to ferry 41 top foreign guests.
These specially-trained drivers will take the premiers and leaders to their destinations in the national capital, like the main meeting venue of ‘Bharat Mandapam’ and the five-star hotels where the dignitaries will stay, they said.
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is the country’s largest paramilitary force, with over 3.25 lakh personnel in its ranks deployed for a variety of internal security duties. Its special VIP security wing, with a strength of over 6,000 personnel, guards 149 high-risk persons, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, and the Gandhis: Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
The force has deployed a total of 900 personnel, including these 450 drivers, to provide proximate security to the VIPs during the two days of the G20 Summit on September 9–10 and the one preceding day of September 8, when the heads of various nations will start arriving in the national capital.
This special G20 pool of the CRPF includes personnel who have earlier served in the Special Protection Group (SPG) that protects the prime minister and the counter-terrorist force National Security Guard (NSG).