Mega cities to get anti-terror force

Mumbai to submit first plan; Opp stages walkout on 8216;lacklustre8217; report

Amid allegations of leading on the Lok Sabha for 8216;8216;two-and-a-half hours without half a word on Mumbai8217;8217; and then going to present a 8216;8216;lacklustre report8217;8217;, Home Minister Shivraj Patil today announced that mega cities would get a special security force to tackle terror.

While the states have been asked to augment the police forces, the Centre has decided to raise 300 battalions of

central paramilitary forces fully equipped with modern weapons and a communication system, he said.

This, he said, was being done at a whopping cost of

Rs 4,184 crore at the Central level; the states would get

Rs 1,025 crore to modernise the forces and hire additional security personnel.

Mumbai would forward a mega city security plan to the Centre, Patil said, and if found 8216;8216;suitable, the same plan can be used for other mega cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore8217;8217;.

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Stressing the need to augment police forces, Patil said on an average, there was one policeman for 740-750 people in India as against one police personnel for 82 citizens in Russia. In India, if one takes into account using policemen to issue summons and notices, the ratio would decline to one policeman for 900 people, he said. Big states did not utilise Central funding on security modernisation, Maharashtra being an exception the state used 96 per cent of the Central funds meant for police upgrade.

The minister admitted that there was lack of intelligence that was 8216;8216;actionable8217;8217; but said the Centre did intimate the Maharashtra government on a likely attack on important installations.

He said the coordination between Railways and the state police needed to be tuned up and this aspect is being looked into by the

Railway Ministry and the Railway Board. 8216;8216;If necessary, laws can be changed and new laws can be made.8217;8217; The minister said new technology would be adopted among other measures.

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Even as the Home minister continued with his reply, the Opposition staged a walkout, saying his reply was not to the point. Patil refused to be drawn into an argument, especially on the Prime Minister8217;s statement on cross-border infrastructural support to terrorism in India.

Mumbai ATS nabs Urdu Times sub-editor for links with SIMI

Mumbai: The Anti-Terrorist Squad ATS probing Terrible Tuesday8217;s serial blasts on Sunday arrested a man alleged to be a member of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India SIMI. The ATS denied his involvement in the blasts.

Danish Riyaaz Shaukat Ali Sheikh 30, a sub-editor in Urdu Times, was arrested from his Naya Nagar residence in Mira Road East, and booked under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for being a member of an unlawful association.

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8216;8216;He8217;s not involved in the blasts in any way. He has been arrested because he was an active member of SIMI, a banned organisation,8217;8217; said Joint Commissioner of Police ATS K P Raghuvanshi. 8216;8216;From his residence, we recovered a large number of books and pamphlets containing literature known to be circulated by SIMI.8217;8217;

Sheikh is the state joint secretary of SIMI and one of the top 10 active members in the city. Well-versed in English, Urdu, Persian and Hindi, he was allegedly involved in publishing provocative literature, collecting donations and promoting funds for the organisation. In 2001, he was arrested for rioting and deterring a public servant from doing his duty in 2001. Sheikh has been remanded to police custody till August 14.