Hyderabad, December 05: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday announced that the government was committed to augment the capacities of the National Security Guards in order to effectively contain terrorist activities.
Addressing a gathering after the inauguration of first regional hub of National Security Guards at Tirumalagiri in Secunderabad, Chidambaram stated that the government was tacking all steps to counter the terrorist operations by coordinating with all intelligence agencies in the aftermath of 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai in 2008, which claimed 170 lives. Stressing on quick response time to counter terrorist attacks, he informed that the minimum time for an NSG unit of Hyderabad to assemble and be airborne would be 60 minutes.
Chidambaram further informed that a vast state of the art training facility exclusively for the NSG training in southern states would soon come up in Ibrahimpatnam. Emphasising the importance of world class training he said that the NSG commandoes would be sent to visit their counterparts in Russia and France to update themselves on training methods and equipments. He hoped that the other regional hubs at Kolkatta, Chennai and Mumbai would be inaugurated by the end of this year.
In the aftermath of Mumbai terror attack the Home Ministry had announced the setting up of four additional regional hubs of NSG in Mumbai, Kolkatta, Chennai and Hyderabad. The aim was to reduce response time and reach the area of operation as quickly as possible. Although all the four regional hubs are operational, the Hyderabad hub is the one first among these to have a permanent infrastructure. Earlier, the hub was located at new Bowenpally, next to Begumpet Airport. The operations were later shifted to the Tirumulgherry in January last year. The inauguration of the permanent infrastructure on Monday however, means that the hub is now administratively fully functional.
Stating that Rs 37 crore has been spent for opening regional hub at Secunderabad in 22 acres of land, he said that there was no paucity of funds for dealing with the terrorist operations in the country. He said the state government has allotted 200 acres for establishing a training centre for NSG at Ibrahimpatnam. He also reiterated that the government would provide latest weaponry to NSG candidates to deal with terrorists stringently. He said that a three year plan has been drawn to strengthen NSG in the country.
NSG Director General R K Medhekar welcomed the gathering. State Home Minister P Sabita Indra Reddy, DGP V Dinesh Reddy, Commissioner of Police AK Khan and other senior officials participated.
–Agencies