In a first, police uses aerial roof markings near Red Fort

Delhi Police on Friday claimed to have taken its security measures a notch higher by adopting rooftop or aerial roof markings, for the first time this Independence Day. Aerial roof markings <g data-gr-id="25">are codes</g> usually in alpha-numeric form painted over selected rooftops or roofs of emergency public vehicles, to enable unmanned aerial vehicles, choppers and CCTV cameras installed at high altitude in locating crucial spots.

Around 400 roof tops near the Red Fort, from whose ramparts the Prime Minister will address the nation on Saturday, have been strategically marked. “The objective was to leave no <g data-gr-id="24">roof top</g> from which the Red Fort or the potential route of the Prime Minister’s cavalcade is remotely visible unmarked,” said a senior police official.

“Snipers have also been assigned designated spots in most of the 400 marked rooftops. This measure has been adopted for the first time by Delhi Police,” the official added.

Police at New South Wales district in Australia, London, Canada and, later, Germany were amongst the first to use this strategy in security.

Security agencies had already thrown a multi-layer cover over the national capital ahead of Independence Day with over 40,000 security personnel deployed across the city to keep a hawk-eyed vigil against any possible terror strike. “We have laid out a ground-to-air security apparatus to counter any possible terror strike,” said a senior Delhi Police official.

He further said that the area surrounding the Red Fort will be fortified by around 6,000 security personnel. NSG sharpshooters are being deployed on the high-rises near the 17th century Mughal Fort. Around 5,000 personnel from the local police, Special Cell and Security wing of the Delhi Police have been deployed to look into Independence Day security, apart from traffic officials to ensure smooth traffic flow throughout the day.