Nation on high alert ahead of Independence Day, Janmashtami

Alarmed by recent serial blasts in Mumbai, a terrorist plot in Britain and a US warning of a likely al Qaeda attack, unprecedented security measures have been arranged across the country ahead of the Independence Day and Janmashtami.

To prevent any untoward incident, security arrangements in every nook and corner of the city from Parliament, airport, railway and metro stations to crowded market areas, cinemas and religious buildings, have been the tightest in the capital since the attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001.Around 10,000 police officers would be deployed for the Independence Day celebrations on August 15, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will customarily unfurl the national flag from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort.

Police have put in elaborate arrangements in and around installations like Red Fort and the nearby markets, and has increased the security level to its highest at the India Gate.

Snipers, metal detectors, x-ray machines, sniffer dogs, radio frequency jammers and security cameras have also been pressed into service and troops armed with machine guns are patrolling the Indira Gandhi International Airport.The terror threat is considered to be the highest in the capital as the main celebrations on August 15 are centred in the city.

Nevertheless, all this restlessness is in no way affecting the tourists who continue to throng markets with their Indian expedition.

"Well, it has to be safe but you can't let people worry because if you are scared it's disrupting your normal life. We are trying to get back to business, to do what we do normally. It has been a lot of worrying, but so far we have been alright. We are just watching each other at the moment" said Matthew 'O' Brian, a tourist from England at one o f the markets near Red Fort, New Delhi.

In rest of the country also thousands of policemen and troops have been positioned to prevent any terror attack. (ANI)

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