The Ministry of Home Affairs has expressed serious concern over leakage of the Prime Minister’s tour programme on social media and said the itinerary of the VVIP is a classified document.
Referring to instances where the Prime Minister’s tour programme was shared in the social media, the MHA in a communication to the Chief Secretaries/DGPs said sharing such information could have serious implications on the security of the VVIP in the prevailing scenario as it had the potential of being misused by extremist elements, highly placed government sources told The Hindu on Monday.
The guidelines assume significance in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed event at Ferozpur in Punjab on January 5 getting cancelled after his convoy was held up on a flyover for about 20 minutes as the road was blocked by protesters.
While the MHA had termed the incident as a “major security lapse” and called for fixing responsibility for it, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi dismissed the allegations saying there was no threat to the Prime Minister’s security though he expressed “regret” over the incident.
Law-enforcement and security agencies were told to ensure confidentiality of the tour programme of VVIPs, the sources said. The proximate security of the Prime Minister is provided by the Special Protection Group which is an armed force of the Union.
Acting on the advisory, instructions were given to top police officers on the protocol to be followed while handling Prime Minister and other VVIP tour programme. The officials in-charge of such VVIP visits were directed to strictly adhere to the norms prescribed under the Official Secrecy Act and other guidelines relating to the handling and security of classified documents, the sources added.
