Aviation ministry offices to co-ordinate with NSG set-up

NEW DELHI: The civil aviation ministry has decided to set up nodal offices in all the five cities where the National Security Guard (NSG) has its hubs.

It has asked Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Airports Authority of India (AAI) to appoint officers in the five cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai to co-ordinate with the NSG in case the security forces need aircraft to reach the place where a terror attack takes place. “The idea is that a plane should be airborne from any of the five cities within 45 minutes from the time a demand is received from NSG,” a senior government official, who did not wish to be identified, said. The nodal offices would co-ordinate with security agency to facilitate fast movement of forces.

The development is a fallout to Mumbai terror attack in November 2008 when NSG commandos took more than six hours to reach the financial capital from Delhi due to logistics problem. The delay is feared to have resulted into loss of several lives which could have been saved. “There should not be time lag at the time of decision making,” the official said, adding that there was convergence of ideas on the issue.