The move, which will also see regional hubs opened in Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata on Wednesday, aims to greatly cut down the response time of the counter-terrorism force in the event of another attack.
The NSG could begin operations to end the siege of buildings attacked by the Lashkar-e-Toiba men on 26/11 a full 12 hours later as precious time was lost in Delhi on deciding the size of the force to send and later in trying to find an aircraft to transport the commandos.
The Mumbai hub will be located on a 23-acre site in Marol and will be inaugurated by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram. It is adjacent to the Maharashtra Police Training School and is close to both the domestic and international airports.
The NSG had initially demanded 150 acres for its hub but the request was turned down by the state government which cited shortage of space in the city. The Marol site was chosen after scouting several areas.
Officials said pre-fabricated and permanent structures are being constructed by the National Buildings Construction Corporation Ltd at the site to house 200 NSG commandos.
While this is expected to take a few months, the NSG has arranged for alternate accommodation for its men at all new locations as the Ministry of Home Affairs had set a stiff deadline of June 30 to operationalise these hubs. “The buildings will come up in due course of time. What matters right now is to ensure the presence of our best commandos in these places,” an MHA official said.
The NSG raised around 1,000 personnel in the past few months and is now ready to deploy them at the four hubs. “The numbers will be increased in the months to come when we get more Army and paramilitary personnel on deputation,” NSG sources said.
Mumbai Police Commissioner D Sivanandan said his force would regularly liaise with the NSG, and if needed “go through the proper channels to get them deployed in times of crisis”. Besides this, crack teams for each of the five police regions in Mumbai are being created to act as first responders.
“The plan is to have 100 trained men on day shift and another 100 on night shift for each of the five regions. They will be given AK-47 rifles, as well as the best bullet-proof vests and helmets. Each team will also be given two buses, bulletproof vehicles and an ambulance. The training is on, and the recruits are undergoing simulated AK-47 firing practice. The idea is to get new recruits joining the Mumbai Police to have a stint with such teams. In this manner, sometime in the future, all the policemen in the force would have such training,” said Sivanandan.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) also plans to co-ordinate closely with the NSG for counter-terror operations in the state. A new Standard Operating Procedure is also being prepared by the ATS for this purpose.
“With the NSG now right at our doorstep, it will cut down the reaction time to a terrorist operation in the future. A lot of time was lost during the 26/11 attacks in getting the NSG to come to Mumbai. The ATS will coordinate very closely with the NSG hub in Mumbai on terrorist attacks anywhere in the state. We are also preparing a SOP to factor in this co-ordination with the NSG,” ATS chief K P Raghuvanshi told The Indian Express.
The Maharashtra Police is also raising its own counter-terror agency called Force One with 268 commandos. The recruits are in the final stages of their training in Pune.
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