NEW DELHI: Accusing states of not doing enough to strengthen intelligence set up, the Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Monday made a strong pitch for setting up theNational Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) -- the controversial anti-terror body which could not be put in place due to strong opposition from the non-Congress chief ministers.
Shinde tried to push the idea of setting up this central body while making his statement in the Parliament on the last week's Bangalore blast.
He said, "We have now a revised formulation of NCTC which takes care of the objections of the states". Though he did not elaborate on it, his reference was to the 'revised' draft which keeps the body out of the ambit of Intelligence Bureau as desired by some non-Congress chief ministers.
The fresh draft, which is to be shared with the states, also adds a provision clarifying that the anti-terror body will not do any operation (arrest, search and seizure) without taking concerned state police chief into the loop.
It will, however, have an 'exception' clause where the central agency will have to conduct operations in some extraordinary situation without taking the concerned state into the loop as it may not be possible to inform the DGP immediately. It may give some case-specific examples where it is needed to act immediately.
The home minister may make a similar pitch next when his ministry is expected to hold a Conference of chief ministers on 'internal security'.
After giving factual details of the Bangalore blast which left 16 persons, including 11 police personnel, injured on April 17, Shinde on Monday did not spare states while asking them to strengthen intelligence set up. He said, "We have been advising the states on this, but we have not seen much progress".
Stating that some nitrate-based compounds could possibly be used as explosive materials in assembling the IED for Bangalore blast, the home minister underlined the need for tighter checks on explosives and said that his ministry took initiative and worked with the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) to prevent the misuse of ammonium nitrate (commonly available explosives used by terror groups in making bombs).
The DIPP has engaged the National Institute of Smart Governance (NISG) to put in place explosives tracking system. "But the problems will remain till the district magistrates and superintendents of police have the stocks and consumption of the licensed explosive users checked more often and more stringently," the home minister said.
The NISG has devised an elaborate plan for bar-coding of explosives and for using GPS systems to track the movement of explosives. It has also set out a procedure for monitoring the movement of explosives from one point to another.
The home ministry has already asked states for escorting of trucks carrying explosives and detonators by providing arm guards along with them whenever they pass through the states. The proposed system of NISG provides for continuous monitoring of all these movements of explosives by a system of SMS alerts and emails.
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