IVANKA SET TO GET POTUS LEVEL SECURITY IN HYDERABAD
rate the GES. Around 3,000 police personnel will be deployed along the route and the area of GES will be out of bounds for the local people and regular traffic will be diverted. The road from HICC to Falaknuma Palace will be fortified with more police personnel.
Next week, the SPG personnel will travel by Metro on the same route that the PM is expected to take on 28 November. The Metro Rail authorities are getting ready for a mock drill for this purpose. Though the Metro project is ready for the entire 30 km stretch, rail safety clearance has come for only 10 km. Officials are working overtime to get safety clearance for the entire distance.
More efforts are underway to ensure security to the Falaknuma Palace dinner where Ivanka Trump, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s wife, Cherie Blair and 1,200 other guests would be present for around 90 minutes. Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan and CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao are regularly reviewing the arrangements.
As Falaknuma Palace is located in the heart of the Old City and the US Secret Service and the Centre had ruled out Ivanka Trump’s stay at the adjacent Taj Falaknuma on threat perception from the Rohingya and other Muslim groups, the police are on tenterhooks to ensure security cover to the VVIP guests. “These two to three hours are crucial for us all,” Srinivasa Rao said.
Besides Ivanka Trump, the Telangana government is also taking care of other US delegates who would be here for three or four days. The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation will use a fleet of 100 luxury buses to ferry the delegates during the period. All the bus drivers are being given a crash course on spoken English and manners while on duty.
Chief Minister KCR will host a dinner at the historic Golconda Fort on 29 November and may organise a special visit of the delegates to the Charminar and Chudi Bazar in the Old City. Different departments have been directed to present handicraft items to Ivanka Trump and the other delegates. The tourism department of Telangana is planning a cultural show for Ivanka Trump and other guests.
Over 52% of the participants in the GES will be women— entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem supporters. This is the first time that women form the majority of participants at a GES, said the organisers on Saturday. Women from 127 countries will be participating in the GES. More than 10 countries including Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Israel will be represented by an all-female delegation.