Close on the heels of the reduction of the security cover for superstar Amitabh Bachchan, police have been asked to conduct a review and to provide more personnel to guard him if necessary, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil said today.

"I have obtained all the information on the matter today. I have asked police to again conduct a review of Bachchan's security and allocate more policemen if they deem it necessary," Patil said.

He said according to the norms set by the Centre for X-category security, Bachchan's security cover had not been "downgraded".

"It is time that people stopped making this a prestige issue. Just as the security of VIPs is important, so is the security of the people of Maharashtra," Patil, who also holds the home portfolio, told reporters on the sidelines of a function to honour those who helped victims of the July 11 train bombings here.

Earlier, speaking at the function, Patil said he had to spent sleepless nights over a decision to give the police a free hand in deciding the security of VIPs.

"We are wasting manpower on some people who don't have the remotest threat to their lives," he said. Despite this, the decision to downgrade the security of some people has been made into a prestige issue, he said.

Following a review of the security cover for VIPs by a committee headed by the chief secretary, the state government recently reduced the security for Bachchan. The superstar's X-category security cover, however, was not downgraded.