No 26/11 repeat: Maharashtra shops for Israeli solutions

The Mumbai attacks claimed the lives of several Israelis and brought India and Israel closer in the fight against terrorism and a high-level team from Maharashtra...

The Mumbai attacks claimed the lives of several Israelis and brought India and Israel closer in the fight against terrorism and a high-level team from Maharashtra arrived here yesterday to forge greater ties between the two countries on homeland security and counter-terrorism.

The team will look to develop,with Israeli cooperation,a total security solution for a city like Mumbai in order to prevent another 26/11-type terrorist attack. Israel is an expert in urban security,and the manufacture and export of high-tech security equipment is a major Israeli business.

The Indian delegation spent Sunday studying the security plan of the holy city of Jerusalem and met,among other people,the police chief of the city who gave them a tour of the police training centre.

On Monday,the delegation which includes Mumbai Police Commissioner D Sivanandan,Maharashtra Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Chandra Iyengar and Inspector General of Police P K Jain will attend a seminar on the theme of Secure Cities in Tel Aviv. The seminar has been organised by the Israeli Export Institute,which has made homeland security besides telecom and information technology the main focus of Indo-Israeli trade.

The team is likely to also visit the port of Ashdod to understand port security. Officials said that among the teams several field visits will be ones to the airport and to companies manufacturing security and surveillance equipment.

The visit of the Maharashtra delegation is being seen as a follow-up to a seminar organised in Mumbai on homeland security two months ago,in which several high-technology firms participated.