Seven months after the 26/11 terror attacks,the first of four regional National Security Guard (NSG) hubs in the country was operationalised in Mumbai on Tuesday through a symbolic raising ceremony presided over by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram at the Kalina New Police Headquarters. The hub is expected to cut down the response time of the counter-terror agency in the event of a future terror attack in the city,and will also be on stand-by for deployment to any part of western India. The hub comprises 250 NSG commandos who are temporarily being housed in the Mumbai Police Training Centre at Kalina in the western suburbs of the city. The NSG has been given a 23-acre plot in Marol by the Maharashtra Government for setting up the regional hub,and the commandos will move into the site by November-end. We had promised that regional hubs would be set up in Mumbai,Chennai,Hyderabad and Kolkata,and had set a deadline of July 1. We have kept that promise and I am happy that the first hub is being operationalised in Mumbai today,and the other three hubs will be operationalised tomorrow. This should instill confidence in the public that the governments at the state and Centre are taking the matter seriously. The NSG is a specially-recruited and specially-trained counter-terror and anti-hijacking agency that has distinguished itself in several operations,and I am sure the NSG hub in Mumbai will live up to its motto, Chidambaram said. Because the regional hub is in Mumbai,it does not mean that it will only serve the city. It will serve western India,and will be ready to fly anywhere depending on the need of the hour. Of course,the first responders would always be the state police. During the 26/11 attacks,several hours were lost before the NSG commandos and their equipment were flown into Mumbai from Manesar. NSG chief N P S Aulakh said it had become difficult to precisely forecast the trajectory of futuristic terrorism. When asked whether the state police will have to go through bureaucratic channels and get the NSG deployed through orders from the Centre,Chidambaram said,The commander of the NSG hub will respond to a call from the state police. Major Siddharth Tomar will command the NSG hub in Mumbai. Top state police officials also said the NSG hub would be available for deployment just by a call from them. Commenting on the availability of helicopters for the NSG commandos to avoid Mumbai traffic during an operation,Chidambaram said,Under the Mega City Policing Plan,helicopters will be made available to the police in big metropolises. This is what has been done in big cities like New York and London. The NSG is also allowed to requisition any aircraft for its use.
