Now, it won’t take NSG 11 hrs to take position

NEW DELHI: In a move that should considerably reduce the country���s response time to terror attacks, four NSG hubs will be operationalised over the next two days at Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata. While the hub of the elite force ��� which was at the centre of the counter-operations against the 26/11 attackers ��� in Mumbai will get operationalised on Tuesday, the remaining three hubs in Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata will have their operationalisation ceremonies on Wednesday.

���After the Mumbai terror attacks on November 26, 2008, a need was felt to have the presence of NSG in other metros also, for effective and quick response in countering such incidents. With the establishing of the hubs, the response time of NSG for countering any terrorist action would be reduced very significantly,��� said an MHA release issued on Monday.

The hubs have been established at Marol in Mumbai (23-acres), Nedunkundram (85 acres) in Chennai, Trimulghery (22 acres) in Hyderabad and Badu (20 acres) in Kolkata. The operationalisation ceremonies for the four hubs will be presided over by Union home minister P Chidambaram and attended by top dignitaries of the state governments concerned.

Pre-fabricated and permanent structures are being constructed to station NSG commandos at these locations. The National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) has been assigned the construction work. The state governments, including civil and police administration, Airports Authority of India and Army have extended full assistance in the establishment and operationalisation of the hubs within the scheduled time frame.

The Centre has also sanctioned two NSG regional centres to be set up in Kolkata and Hyderabad. The existing hubs in Kolkata and Hyderabad will subsequently be merged with the regional centres. The need for regional hubs of the NSG, until now headquartered only at Manesar, near Delhi, was felt after its Black Cats commandos took more than 11 hours to reach the 26/11 attack site in Mumbai. In the process, precious time was lost, giving the terrorists a clear edge and and costing many innocent lives.

Delays crept in right from requisitioning of the commandos to arranging an aircraft to ferry the NSG commandos, who then took a good two hours to reach from the airport to the three sites of the 26/11 encounter: the Taj and Trident-Oberoi hotels, besides Nariman House. By that time, the terrorists had firmly settled in and taken vantage positions, even as the NSG struggled to start the counter-operation with only a sketchy briefing.