The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Police escort vehicles for the VIPs including advisers will be returned to the DMP. So far these VIPs were provided twice the number of police escorts than during any elected government.

The Home Adviser Maj Gen (Retd) Abdul Matin and Home Secretary Abdul Karim have already returned their police protection vehicles. However, plainclothes gunmen will provide protection to them.

The extra police protection vehicles for nine other advisers and five special assistants to the Chief Adviser will be returned to the DMP, source said without giving any specific date for the return.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) had provided police pickup trucks for the VIPs' protection. Sources said even though the cabinet is one-fourth the size of the previous alliance government cabinet, members of this cabinet were using double police protection.

DMP sources said two pickup trucks with 16 policemen are provided to the Chief Adviser, while nine other advisers and five special assistants to the Chief Adviser use one pickup truck each and 144 policemen in total, the source said.

Only nine pickup trucks with around 70 policemen were used for protecting the 60-member cabinet of the last elected government. Three vehicles were used for the protection of the prime minister, one for the foreign minister, two for the opposition party leader and one for the state minister for home affairs.

The number of VIPs has almost doubled in this caretaker government.

At present, the president uses two police pickup trucks, former prime ministers Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina two vehicles each, the wife of the president one, wife of the chief adviser one, chief justice one, chief election commissioner (CEC) one, two election commissioners one each, speaker of the parliament and deputy speaker one each and the Army Chief uses one pickup truck along with the Army escort vehicle.

Deputy Commissioner (protection) Ahsan Habib Palash told the New Nation that the DMP had already received two vehicles returned from VIP protection assignment.

According to sources, the DMP with around 23,000 policemen has only 564 vehicles and most of them are very old and in a dilapidated condition. Only 50 of these vehicles are new and the new ones are generally assigned for the protection of the VIPs.