SPG to get all facilities: PM

New Delhi, Apr 7 (UNI) The Special Protection Group, which provides the highest 'Z-plus' security cover to the Prime Minister and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, will be provided with all the necessary facilities to meet the challenges of terrorist, subversive and fundamentalist forces, Dr Manmohan Singh assured the SPG today.

Acknowledging that the nation was conscious of the fact that the security agencies were functioning against very heavy odds, Dr Singh said the threat of terrorism and the danger emanating from subversive and fundamentalist forces posed huge challenges to body politic.

''I assure you that our Government will do all that is required to meet the needs of the SPG and all our security forces,'' Dr Singh said after giving away the Indian Police Medals for meritorious service to SPG personnel on the occasion of the 21st Raising Day of SPG.

''After all, morale and motivation constitute the first step in addressing any challenge. We will do everything possible to keep your morale and spirits high,'' he said.

Ms Gandhi and Home Minister Shivraj Patil were among those present on the occasion.

Recalling the extremely tragic circumstances which led to the formation of the SPG following the assassination in 1984 of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, he said ''many of us would remember the sense of shock and distress when the authority and might of our Republic was challenged by the assassination''.

''Nearly two decades on, I think it is fair to say that the SPG has lived up to the high expectations that the nation has reposed in it,'' he said.

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