The Union Budget 2023 has substantially raised the allocation for VVIP protection. "On a rough average, Z-plus costs Rs 50 lakh and Z costs Rs 40 lakh per month," an officer told NDTV, asking not to be identified.
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As per the demands for grant sanctioned by the Finance Ministry, the budget of the Special Protection Group (SPG), which is responsible for the Prime Minister's security, has increased by 12.3 per cent.
In the previous fiscal, Rs 385.95 crore was allocated. This time, Rs 433.59 has been allocated. This means the cost for the SPG's wide array of tasks comes to approximately Rs 1.18 crore a day, an officer said, asking not to be identified.
The budget for the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) has increased by 8.2 per cent from Rs 90,870 crore in the previous fiscal to Rs 94,665.03 crore.
The budget for the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which provides security to the maximum number of people compared to other units of the CAPFs, however, has been reduced by Rs 276 crore.
The CRPF has been allocated Rs 31,772.23 crore this fiscal, while it got Rs 31,495.88 crore in the last fiscal's budget. Currently, the CRPF provides security to 129 people, of which 21 are Z-plus and 26 are of Z category.
"There are 247 battalions in the CRPF, of which six battalions are dedicated for VIP security. We got about Rs 772 crore sectioned for duties related to VIPs," a senior CRPF officer told NDTV, asking not to be named.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, for example, gets Z-plus security cover from the CRPF, which involves 30-40 personnel guarding him 24x7.
"On an average, about Rs 50 lakh is being spent to protect him, which means about Rs 1.5 lakh daily," the officer told NDTV.
According to Home Ministry data, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) protects the maximum number of VIPs. It provides security to 144 people, of which 9 are VIPs in Z-plus category and 11 in Z category.
Data shows the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and the National Security Guards (NSG) provide Z-plus and Z category security to some 70 people.
