SPG To Secure Ex-PM And Kin only For 5 yrs – SPG (Amendment) Bill, 2019 Passed In Lok Sabha
Mumbai: The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the Special Protection Group (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which permits the SPG to protect the prime minister and his or her immediate family members staying at his or her official residence.
Elite security cover will be for former Prime Ministers and members of their immediate family, who will be allotted to their place of residence for a period of five years, the day they step out of the office.
While, rejecting all the allegations Union Home Minister Amit Shah said it was BJP’s way to adopt a “vindictive” approach, but “it was the approach of Congress”.
Shah said that the purpose of the Bill is to restore the original intention of the Act. He further clarified that the Gandhi family’s security “has not been withdrawn but has been changed.”
“The Gandhi family has been provided with Z-plus security cover under the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) with ambulance and ASL (Advance Security Liaison) teams across India based on current threat perception. However, when the Director of Intelligence Bureau Tried to communicate. Rahul Gandhi got revenge (in security cover category), intelligence chief could not meet him, “said Shah while responding to the MPs who participated in the discussion on the Bill.
While taking a dig on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Shah claimed that he (Rahul) breached SPG norms 1,892 times since 2015.
During the past five years, Rahul did not apprise the SPG of 247 tours he conducted out of Delhi.
Out of 99 foreign visits since 1991, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi did not seek SPG cover on 78 such visits, Shah said, adding that she violated the SPG norms on 349 occasions since 2015.
Shah said that Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi did not inform SPG officials about her visit 600 times.
The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kishan Reddy on Monday.
The SPG Bill rejects the security cover for family members of a former Prime Minister who does not live with them at their official residence. Those accompanying him will be protected by SPG commandos for only five years.
It states that the SPG will provide proximal security to the Prime Minister and his immediate family members only when he stays with them at his official residence.
(With Agency Inputs)
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