Budget 2020: SPG protection for PM Modi will now have a budget of nearly Rs 600 cr

New Delhi, Feb 01: The allocation for the Special Protection Group (SPG), which was formed for protecting the Prime Minister has increased from Rs 540 crore to nearly Rs 600 crore by the government.

In the 2019 union budget, it was increased from Rs 420 crore to approximately Rs 540 crore. This year which has increased to Rs 600 crore.

At present, only the Prime Minister is protected by the 3000-strong SPG.

In last year November, the SPG protection was withdrawn from Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Reportedly, government sources had pointed numerous security protocol violations by the Gandhi family.

In 2019, the SPG Act was revised again, under which only the present prime minister and former and their immediate families living with them would get SPG protection for five years after leaving office.

Earlier, SPG was also was withdrawn from former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, two other former Prime Ministers HD Deve Gowda and VP Singh.

The SPG was set up a year after the assassination of the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1985. It was formed for protecting the prime ministers.

In 1991, after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the SPG protection was extended to the entire Gandhi family.

Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had SPG cover till he died in 2018.