Maharashtra's anti terror unit 'Force One', formed on the lines of National Security Guards (NSG), would exlusively be used for counter-terror activities and not for any other purpose like protection duty of VIPs and politicians, chief of the unit said.
"Unlike NSG which is also being used for the security of VIPs and politicians, the state's commandos will never be used for such purpose," Force One's chief S Jaganathan who is also Additional Deputy Inspector General told PTI.
In the government resolution pertaining to 'Force One' formulation, it was specified that this force should be used only for fighting terrorism in the state and not for any other activities, he said.
"We want to keep it as a specialised force and does not want to divert it for other activities. As per the GR, we can not allow the force for the use of security of VVIP and politicians," he added.
The state government took this decision keeping in view the criticism faced by the Central government for putting NSG commandos on duty of politicians, another senior official said.
The Force One was formed to reduce the response time in case ofa terror attack here as it took nine hours for the NSG to fly to Mumbai to take charge of the troubled sites during 26/11 terror attacks in the city. The Maharashtra government has provided 100 acre of plot, where the force commandos are being trained.
The commandos of the batch have been divided into three groups. While one group remains on alert, one practices and the third would take rest. The government had received about 3000 applications from state police force, who volunteered to be part of the force.
However, not many were up to the mark. Finally, 261 personnel were shortlisted and imparted commando training.
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