Seven months after the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai, the first of the four National Security Guards (NSG) hub outside Delhi was set up in Mumbai to reduce response time during an emergency situation.
Opening the much-touted hub, Home Minister P Chidambaram, said he was happy to keep up the promise and that this will increase confidence of the people of the country that they are secured.
“We are happy that the first of the four hubs has been inaugurated and the remaining three in Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad will be operational from tomorrow,”
Chidambaram said while inaugurating the NSG hub at suburban Kalina in Mumbai.
The 23-acre NSG campus in Marol at suburban Andheri will be ready by November 2009 and until then the NSG will be using the Kalina campus of Mumbai police.
Around 250 NSG commandos will be stationed in Mumbai and 1,080 will be deployed all over the four hubs.
“I am very happy that I have kept the promise. This will increase confidence of the people of the country that they are secured,” the Home Minister said.
The NSG is specially trained agency, whose principal aims are anti-terror, anti-hijack and rescue operations.
“I am sure that NSG Mumbai hub will live up to its expectation”, he added.
Chidambaram said NSG will be requisitioned by the state home ministry as and when there is a need.
In case of terror attack or emergency, the first response will always be the police and NSG will be deployed only if the state home ministry requisitions.
Chidambaram said there are plans to provide helicopter to the city police as part of the mega-city policing project.
By the time the project is complete, the state government would provide the police force with helicopter, he added.
NSG can requisition any aircraft on the ground that they may make require, Chidambaram added.
The four NSG hubs will cater to the entire country and the hub in Mumbai will serve the whole of Western India.
Jayant Patil, Maharashtra Home minister, said “we have learnt a lesson from the 26/11 attack and we are implementing the suggestions given in the Ram Pradhan committee report and the results will be seen soon”.
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