By IANS,
Mumbai : Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, while announcing a compensation amount of Rs.2.5 million for the families of the security officials who died fighting the terrorists who attacked Mumbai, Saturday said the state will build a force like the National Security Guard (NSG).
“The past few days have been very difficult but we want to reiterate that we are not scared of the terrorists. The families of the security officials who lost their lives while fighting the terrorists will be given a compensation amount of Rs.2.5 million,” Deshmukh said at a press conference here.
“At least one member of the family of each police personnel killed will be given a government job. The families will also be allowed to permanently stay in government houses.
“The families of the martyred policemen will also receive salaries as per their current pay scales. This will continue till the time the official would have retired if alive,” he added.
The chief minister said 350 NSG commandos were involved in the 59-hour operation against the terrorists who attacked 10 prominent places in Mumbai Wednesday night.
“A force on the lines of the NSG will be set up in Maharashtra,” Deshmukh said. “We will get permission to set up such a force from the centre.”
“We have also postponed the winter assembly session, which was to begin in Nagpur Monday. It will now begin Dec 11,” he added.
Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil, who was also present at the press conference, told reporters that preliminary investigations had revealed that “the terrorists wanted to kill more than 5,000 people in the attack”.
“There were 10 terrorists in all. Nine were killed, while one has been captured alive. They had been continuously getting instructions from abroad via satellite phones,” Patil said.
When asked which country they were getting support from, the minister said: “You all know which country.”
“The terrorists came from the sea route Wednesday morning. They landed near Sassoon Docks in Colaba. From there, they took a taxi in which all their arms and ammunitions were loaded,” Patil said.
“Police have recovered two live bombs, each weighing eight kilograms from the dead terrorists. GPS equipment and sophisticated satellite phones were also recovered from them,” he added.
The chief minister said in all 162 people, including 18 foreigners, were killed and 239 were injured in the terror drama. He added that 150 bodies had been sent for post mortem and 121 had already been handed over to their families.