Union Home Secretary G K Pillai has said that British officials were so impressed by the manner in which the Delhi police and other agencies handled the security at the Commonwealth Games yesterday - the opening Day - that they wanted lessons for the 2012 London Olympics.
"I have met a number of officials connected with the London Olympic 2012," Pillai told rediff.com on Monday. "Since there was a grave terrorist threat to the Commonwealth Games, they wanted to have some sort of cooperation with India. It is a natural process."
Before the opening ceremony, Home Minister P Chidambaram had done a recce of many of the stadiums, including the Talkatora swimming pool, to supervise the security arrangements. He issued last-minute instructions to the senior police officers.
Asked if Delhi Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal accompanied the home minister, Rajan Bhagat, public relations officer, Delhi police, told rediff.com, "No The commissioner visited other places to take stock before the opening ceremony."
Chidambaram also visited the press centre - set up for 2,000 journalists - at Pragati Maidan and spoke to the senior Press Information Bureau officers handling the press accreditation facilities. But he refused to answer queries on accreditation norms for journalists.
A senior PIB officer told rediff.com that all the media accreditations had been completed.
Media persons and volunteers, however, were in for a trying time at the opening ceremony. They had a difficult task reaching the press box, as the stairs leading to it were unfinished. Some even fell down, but no one was injured.
