Ivanka Trump, 36, will be present at the inauguration of the three-day GES on 28 November, Tuesday, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the HICC grounds at Gachibowli here. She will come straight to Hyderabad from the US and leave the city on 29 November, Wednesday. She will attend a dinner hosted by the Prime Minister for the GES delegates at the Falaknuma Palace on Tuesday evening.
The summit will highlight the theme “Women First, Prosperity for All”, and will focus on supporting women entrepreneurs and fostering economic growth globally. Ivanka Trump will lead the US delegation to the summit.
As GES is a flagship global event of the White House and in view of the threat perception to Ivanka, three layered security arrangements are being made for her. A 30-member US Secret Service team is already in Hyderabad, while another two batches are expected to arrive in the next two weeks to take care of her personal security, travel and stay.
Another layer will be provided by the Special Protection’s Group (SPG) which takes care of the PM’s security as he will inaugurate the GES and will be with Ivanka Trump at the official dinner.
The third layer of security will be taken care of by the Intelligence Security Wing (ISW) of the Telangana police who are trained in counter-terror operations, Hyderabad police commissioner, V.V. Srinivasa Rao told this newspaper.
The US security personnel are bringing with them two bullet proof SUVs for Ivanka Trump to travel in while in Hyderabad. The local police will be informed about the weapons that will be carried by the US security teams during their stay here, as is the norm when foreign security personnel visit another country, said an official in Hyderabad police.
From the security point of view, both for the Centre and the state, 28 November is an important day as it involves two major events that will witness a large number of people in the city as guests. The Prime Minister will also inaugurate the Metro Rail at Hyderabad’s Miyapur at 3 pm on that day. This will also be a test of nerves for the police, as the occasion is being celebrated by the TRS government like a festival.
The SPG has cut short the PM’s Metro travel to 10-15 minutes from Miyapur to Ameerpet, a distance of around 10 km, as against around 30 minutes from Nagole to Miyapur, a 30 km distance, which was proposed by the state government. Moreover, the PM will arrive at the Begumpet airport by a special aircraft and will use a helicopter to reach Miyapur, where he will launch the Metro project.
However, from Miyapur, he will go by road, using the Outer Ring Road to reach the HICC grounds and inaugurate the GES. Around 3,000 police personnel will be deployed along the route and the area of GES will be out of bounds for the local people and regular traffic will be diverted. The road from HICC to Falaknuma Palace will be fortified with more police personnel.
Next week, the SPG personnel will travel by Metro on the same route that the PM is expected to take on 28 November. The Metro Rail authorities are getting ready for a mock drill for this purpose. Though the Metro project is ready for the entire 30 km stretch, rail safety clearance has come for only 10 km. Officials are working overtime to get safety clearance for the entire distance.
More efforts are underway to ensure security to the Falaknuma Palace dinner where Ivanka Trump, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s wife, Cherie Blair and 1,200 other guests would be present for around 90 minutes. Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan and CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao are regularly reviewing the arrangements.
As Falaknuma Palace is located in the heart of the Old City and the US Secret Service and the Centre had ruled out Ivanka Trump’s stay at the adjacent Taj Falaknuma on threat perception from the Rohingya and other Muslim groups, the police are on tenterhooks to ensure security cover to the VVIP guests. “These two to three hours are crucial for us all,” Srinivasa Rao said.
Besides Ivanka Trump, the Telangana government is also taking care of other US delegates who would be here for three or four days. The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation will use a fleet of 100 luxury buses to ferry the delegates during the period. All the bus drivers are being given a crash course on spoken English and manners while on duty.
Chief Minister KCR will host a dinner at the historic Golconda Fort on 29 November and may organise a special visit of the delegates to the Charminar and Chudi Bazar in the Old City. Different departments have been directed to present handicraft items to Ivanka Trump and the other delegates. The tourism department of Telangana is planning a cultural show for Ivanka Trump and other guests.
Over 52% of the participants in the GES will be women—entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem supporters. This is the first time that women form the majority of participants at a GES, said the organisers on Saturday. Women from 127 countries will be participating in the GES. More than 10 countries including Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Israel will be represented by an all-female delegation.a