By IANS,
New Delhi: Three months after the Maharashtra government-appointed probe panel identified police lapses during the 26/11 terror attacks, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan Monday praised the force, saying that “despite odds” it had done a “commendable job” in “bringing the terrorists to book”.
“The state has been on the terror threat. Despite odds, we have been successful in cracking the blast cases. The Maharashtra police have done a commendable job in not only tracing the perpetrators of such heinous offences but also bringing them to book,” Chavan said detailing the security scenario in the state, his first address after last year’s terror attacks.
“The Kasab trial is on and we are hopeful to take this case to its logical conclusion,” he said, referring to the lone surviving Mumbai attacker, Ajmal Amir Kasab, who was arrested during the 26/11 carnage.
The attack left 170 people dead and the Mumbai police came under sharp criticism for their handling and response to the terror strike after 10 Pakistani terrorists struck at vital installations in the city.
A two-member committee – comprising retired IAS officer Ram Pradhan and former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) official V. Balachandran – was appointed to probe the lapses.
The Pradhan Committee report identified some shortcomings in response by the police and the state government. But the government refused to make the report public because “it would have demoralised the police”.
Chavan said the “events of November 2008 are still fresh in the minds of people of Mumbai” and the vulnerability to attacks from urban terrorism was “in sharp focus”.
He said the state “is under threat from urban terrorism on the west, and Left wing violence on the east”.
To combat urban terrorism and Maoist insurgency, he demanded Rs.500 crore (five billion) for the state to strengthen anti-terror forces and intelligence wings.
“The government of India should support us with at least Rs.100 crore” for upgrading the Nagpur institute of jungle warfare and counter-insurgency and setting up a training institute to combat urban terrorism, Chavan said.
He said the state government has been promised additional grants under the Modernization of Police Forces (MPF) scheme.
He said when Maharashtra’s proposal for Rs.585 crore under the MPF was sent to the home ministry, “it was reduced to Rs.175 crore”. “I would request the home minister to make available the special allocation as promised under the MPF,” he said.
The chief minister said the anti-terror forces needed two helicopters with night flying capability for carrying out aerial surveillance along the vast coastline.