By IANS,
Mumbai: The Force One, Maharashtra’s own elite security force designed on the lines of the National Security Guard (NSG), will be commissioned Tuesday, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan disclosed here Monday.
The Force One’s headquarters and training centre are located on an 80-acre campus inside the lush green Aarey Milk Colony at Goregaon in north-west Mumbai.
“The Force One will be commissioned tomorrow (Tuesday),” Chavan told mediapersons here Monday evening.
The need for a special force on the lines of the NSG was felt after the November 26-29, 2008, Mumbai terror attacks.
Within a span of less than a year, the new force – comprising 256 officers and men – headed by an officer of the rank of deputy inspector general (DIG) has been made operational, two days before the anniversary of the attacks which falls Thursday, Nov 26.
In a related development, the state government will proudly exhibit all the new and sophisticated weapons it has procured post-26/11 at a special police parade to be held from Gateway of India to Chowpatty, a distance of about 5 km.
“We have learnt the lessons from the 26/11 terrorist attacks. In the last one year, we have procured many state-of-the-art weapons and equipments, bullet proof vehicles, carriers and also boats for coastal security,” Chavan said while releasing a brochure in Marathi, brought out by the state government, titled “Mumbai Shapath” (Mumbai Pledge), here Monday evening.
In the wake of the terror attacks, the state government had come under flak for inadequate weapons and ammunitions, lack of modernised equipments to counter terrorist attacks and proper bullet proof paraphernalia.
This resulted in the loss of 18 police personnel, including three top police officials – former ATS chief Hemant Karkare, former Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte and former encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar, besides another 148 members of the public, including 26 foreign nationals.
The chief minister also announced that there will be two solemn commemorative functions to the mark the first anniversary of 26/11 — the police parade in the morning and an all religions prayer meeting in the evening at Gateway of India.
Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram will also come here to unveil a memorial erected in memory of the martyrs at the Police Gymkhana, Marine Lines that day.
Speaking on the occasion, state Home Minister R.R. Patil said that the state government had spent over Rs.1.26 billion towards the modernization of the police force in the past one year.
“Additional proposals of Rs.9.2 million are in the pipeline and which have been approved by the finance ministry. Security will be our first priority,” Patil said.