Mumbai’s security was vastly better than it was at the time of 26/11, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the terror attacks on Monday.
“We have substantially shored up our defences since the lethal terror attacks four years back,” said Mr. Chavan, speaking to reporters here.
The Chief Minister said that foreign hands had been brought in to train the State’s security forces, while the State had purchased high-end speedboats and mooted the constitution of the elite combat squad ‘Force One’ and it had substantially improved the performance of the Quick Response Teams’ (QRTs).
R.R. Patil confident
Expressing confidence in the security apparatus, Home Minister R.R. Patil remarked that in the event of a recurrence of a 26/11-like incident, the city was capable of combating the attack with minimum loss of life.
Acknowledging that there had been hitches in building the security apparatus post-26/11, the Chief Minister commented that the government would soon complete its elaborate project of mounting Closed-Circuit Camera Television (CCTV) cameras.
The Maharashtra government’s project to set up 6,000 pieces of CCTV cameras (14 cameras per sq. km.) throughout the city continues to remain on paper, with the administration forced to go in for re-tendering after the first lot was cancelled in April.
The delay has been a major factor impairing the capabilities of the State security forces.
