THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the strongest security in the country. About 3000 members of SPG (Special Protection Force) are providing security. SPG is headed by Kerala cadre IPS officer Arun Kumar Sinha and the central budget allocation for SPG is Rs 600 crore. The home department of the respective state is responsible for implementing the security arrangements and instructions prescribed by the SPG.

Security is provided according to the Blue Book prepared by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Complete travel details should be prepared three days before the Prime Minister's visit. According to Blue Book norms, 50 platoon police and 200 officers should be appointed. The security deployment should be as per the SPG directive and cannot be changed by the states.

The SPG is responsible for checking which routes the Prime Minister's motorcade should take and which routes are safe. More than one route will be prepared by the SPG in consultation with the home departments of the respective states. The pilot vehicles of the fleet are to be set up by the police and the district administration also has a role in this coordination.

There was a security breach once during the Prime Minister's visit to Kerala. In 2006, during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Kerala, a foreign vehicle made its way into his convoy in Thiruvananthapuram.

SPG came in 1985

SPG security came into existence in 1985 following the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The VP Singh government that came to power in 1989 withdrew Rajiv Gandhi's SPG security, but after Rajiv's assassination in 1991, the SPG Act was amended to provide security to prime ministers and their immediate family members for 10 years. Recently, SPG security was reduced to PM only.