Defence Personnel To Replace Private Security Guards At India Gate

The government is working out on a proposal to replace private security guards with Defence personnel at India Gate.

Defence personnel would be redeployed at the India Gate to guard the National War Memorial. As of now, private security guards, including some ex-servicemen, are deployed on the Kartavya Path and India Gate.

It has been learnt that the Defence and Urban Affairs Ministries are working out the modalities for reverting to the old system of deploying Defence personnel, considering the exponentially high footfall in the area on the weekends and other holidays.

The Army personnel were gradually withdrawn after the ‘Amar Jawan Jyoti’, an iconic symbol to honour martyrs, was merged with the flame at the National War Memorial in January 2022.

The Defence Ministry has communicated to the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry that while deployment of private guards could take care of the rest of the area, there is a need to put defence personnel at India Gate to ensure that the iconic structure does not get damaged.

India Gate was built in the memory of 84,000 Indian soldiers who died in World War-I and the Afghan campaign.According to the Urban Affairs Ministry, the discussions on the deployment of Army personnel has been going on for a few months.

The Central Public Works Department, which manages the area, has also installed CCTV cameras to monitor activities around India Gate and Kartavya Path.

The footfall at Kartavya Path has increased since it was inaugurated in September last year and on weekends, it sees on an average over 1.5 lakh visitors.

The 2-km Kartavya Path stretches from India Gate to Rashtrapati Bhavan.