By IANS,
Mumbai: Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil Wednesday advocated the need for a state intelligence network on the lines of the central Intelligence Bureau (IB) which can help prevent terror incidents like 13/7.
“Maharashtra must have its own intelligence network. If there had been good intelligence, the July 13 triple blasts in Mumbai could have been prevented,” Patil said in the state assembly Wednesday afternoon, winding up the two-day debate on the terror attacks this month which left 24 dead.
Referring to the opposition charge that if there had been sufficient CCTVs installed around the city, the terror attacks could have been prevented, Patil pointed out that there were already 13,162 CCTV cameras all over Mumbai, besides 32 in the gold jewellery hub Zaveri Bazar, which was one of the prime targeted sites in the 13/7 attacks.
Claiming that the probe in the 13/7 blasts was proceeding in the “right direction,” Patil declined to divulge details on grounds that it could hamper the ongoing investigations.
Responding to an opposition charge that the state government was spending Rs.31 crore on Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab’s security, Patil denied the claim.
“We do not spend that kind of money, as alleged in the media,” he said.
During the two-day heated debate, Patil was under fire from the opposition for failing to act efficiently and was urged to accept moral responsibility for the 13/7 terror attacks and resign.