Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday inaugurated the newly constructed headquarters of Organisation to Counter Terrorist Operations (Octopus) here on Monday.
Tackling terrorism
The headquarters of the combat and intelligence outfit raised by the State government especially for effective tackling of terrorist activities was being operated from a makeshift office so far. After inaugurating the administrative headquarters of Octopus, the Chief Minister was taken around the office premises by Director General of Police V. Dinesh Reddy and Additional DG of Octopus N.V. Surendra Babu.
Ministers P. Sabita Indra Reddy (Home), J. Geeta Reddy (Industries), Danam Nagender (Labour) and M. Mukesh Goud (Marketing) and Secunderabad MP Anjan Kumar Yadav and Managing Director of AP State Police Housing Corporation (APSPHC) Madan Lal also accompanied the Chief Minister.
The decision to raise the special force was taken by the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy government in the Cabinet meeting in October 2007, much before the Mumbai terror attacks known as “26/11” in 2008, to strengthen the Police Department to effectively maintain law and order in view of the increase in terrorist activities in the State.
Sophisticated weapons
Official sources said, the Octopus has 250 commandos now trained in anti-terror combat including handling the sophisticated weapons. The force has its training centre near Ibrahimpatnam on the outskirts of the city. About 100 Octopus commandos have already deployed in Tirumala to oversee the temple security.
Commandos of the specialised forces were learnt to have given a demo before the Chief Minister and other dignitaries present for the occasion. Earlier, the Chief Minister was given a guard of honour on his arrival.
