Over the past 12 months, mumbai police have improved a lot, procuring modern weapons and equipment to tackle terror. but the intel agencies are lagging behind, say experts.
Lathis and archaic .303 rifles took on the sophisticated AK-47 assault rifles on November 26 last year. Result: the Mumbai police failed miserably against the 10 heavily armed terrorists. But, if a similar situation crops up again, the cops will be out fighting with a minimum of 300 AK-47 assault rifles.
Every police station in the city has been equipped with four AK-47s, as well as commandos who are trained to use them in crisis situation. Mumbai police commissioner D Sivanandhan has formed a quick response team (QRT) comprising 1,000 commandos — half of them perpetually in “war-ready” mode. These commandos have been evenly distributed across all 89 police stations in the city.
“The police have charted a five-tier security arrangement to counter a terror strike,” a senior police officer said. “Its primary objective is to ensure that the attackers are localised at the soonest. A team of commandos will take on the terrorists, and confine them within a minimum possible area, where it would be easy to overpower them.”
Former Mumbai police commissioner MN Singh said that the police, now, are much better equipped to deal with a terror attack. “However, we cannot afford to be complacent. For Mumbai will always be on terror radars. It is a soft target because of its geographical location, and a hot target for being the commercial capital of India.”
He added, “A 26/11-like terror attack can be averted only if we have a good intelligence-gathering system. Sadly, the functioning of the state intelligence department has not improved even after the attack. We need better co-ordination between the central and the state agencies.”
Julio Rebeiro, another former Mumbai police commissioner, said, “The government has procured modern weapons. However, it is important to continue with the same zest and motivation. But I am afraid it is already dwindling.”
PS Pasricha , former state director general of police, said that the department had wisely spent the money in procuring the right kind of weapons. “With the intelligence gathering systems too revamping their style of functioning, I think we are well set to handle any terror attack.”
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