Foolproof security arrangements made at the venue of the International Yoga Day event on Rajpath this weekend have been dubbed ‘Operation DOGA’ – a combination of the words, dog and Yoga - in line with the magnitude of the deployment of security dogs for the purpose.
Official sources said the operation was being spearheaded by the elite canine squad of the paramilitary force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, with the Delhi Police squad not far behind.
As the venue around India Gate-Rajpath will be visited by close to 40,000 people, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi this Sunday, its peripheries and core areas have already been handed over for security checks to an undisclosed number of canine troops.
The ITBP, nominated as the national ‘centre for excellence’ for sniffer and police dogs training, has put on job a special breed of Belgian Shepherd, ‘Malinois’, who gained prominence across the world after they reportedly participated in the strike of the U.S. Navy SEAL commandos on Al-Qaida chief Osama Bin Laden.
“Besides, about a dozen German Shepherd and Labrador dogs have been deployed for anti-sabotage tasks round-the-clock on Rajpath and surrounding areas. They will keep doing their job till the event ends on June 21,” a senior official said.
