For the first time, to protect and evacuate 89 VIPs in case of aerial and chemical attack, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked security agencies to prepare a master standard operating procedure (SOP) which will also re-align the ‘VIP 89’ area.

The master SOP will be prepared from the SOPs of all security forces. The project ‘VIP-89’ has been named after 89 VVIP protectees living in Lutyen's Delhi, which includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal  etc. VIP-89 is a demarcated virtual circle that covers all residential and important offices like Prime Minister's Office, Rashtrapati Bhawan etc.

The ministry, in a meeting headed by the home secretary, had decided to prepare a VIP-specific plan in case of aerial attack also identify safe houses.

According to the documents accessed by My Nation, metro stations, five star hotels will be used as safe houses where VVIPs will be taken to in the case of an attack. “The agencies have been asked to a submit detailed, VIP wise evacuation plan. More than a dozen metro stations have been identified, which will be used as bunkers for VVIPs in case of aerial and chemical attacks. A few hotels, parking lots etc have also been identified,” a top security official said.

Once all agencies will finalise and submit their plans as per the security cover they are providing to particular VVIPs, all security agencies like Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Special Protection Group (SPG), Indo-Tibet Border Police etc along with Intelligence Bureau (IB) will finalise a master SOP and submit it to MHA. The latest meeting which held first week of June, after which CRPF and CISF have submitted their SOPs.

The aim of the SOPs is to sensitize and train agencies and officers responsible for the security of the VVIPs. “Objective of the project is to demarcation of VIP-89 and to raise awareness among security agencies about aerial attacks and approach to tackle it.

The plan will also include hospitals for medical aids and a procedure to evacuate the VVIPs to these safe houses. The master SOP will be able to deal with situations like all aerial attacks of the types like a using a hijacked aircraft as a missile in the 9/11-style, firing rocket launchers or flying objects to target VIPs or vital installations, attacks by UAVs, drones etc and attacks through micro-light aircraft or hot air balloons.