New Delhi, Feb 27: Parliament today gave its seal of approval to a Bill seeking to reduce proximate security to former prime ministers and their spouses to one year after they demitted office, with the Rajya Sabha passing the Special Protection Group (amendment) Bill by voice vote. The bill, already passed by Lok Sabha, seeks to restrict proximate security to members of the immediate family of a former prime minister to three months, which may be continued subject to review on a case to case basis.
Replying to the debate on the bill in the upper house, Minister of State for Home I D Swami admitted there was a shortage of personnel in SPG as the existing staff was on deputation from other security agencies. He, however, said efforts would be made to make up the deficiency.
Participating in the discussion on the bill, Suresh Pachouri (Congress) said a prime minister represents the entire nation and the onus of providing security to him lies solely with the government.


He questioned the very basis of assessment of threat perception for determining whether SPG cover should be continued for former prime ministers.

Prabhakar Reddy (TDP), C M Poulouse (CPI-M), C P Thirunavukkarasu (DMK), Saifuddin Soz (Congress), R S Gavai (RPI) and R P Goenka (Congress) also participated in the discussion.

Bureau Report