137 police personnel for every 1L people in country: govt

The country has about 137 police personnel to secure every one lakh people, the government told Parliament on Tuesday.

It added that a total of 298 VIPs and VVIPs are also being provided central security cover under various categories.

Minister of State for Home Hansraj G Ahir told Lok Sabha in a written reply that as per data on police organisations published by the Bureau of Police Research and Development, the police-public ratio (per lakh of population) in the country as on January 1, 2016 is 180.59.

However, the elaborate data provided by Ahir in this regard stated that the "actual" strength of the police personnel (per one lakh people) is 137.11.

Talking about VVIP security, he said out of the total 298 such protectees under the central cover, 26 are under the top category of 'Z+', 58 under 'Z', 144 in 'Y+', 2 in 'Y' and 68 in the lowest categorisation of 'X'.

Ahir also said 14 protectees under the 'Z+' category are under the cover of the black cats commando force National Security Guard (NSG).

"NSG has deployed 551 security personnel for the protection of these protectees," he said. Ahir added the total data on expenditure made for VIP security is not maintained centrally.