The eastern regional hub of the country’s elite National Security Guard (NSG) was inaugurated at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Wednesday.

One of the four regional NSG hubs set up in the country after the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai, the eastern hub was the last to be inaugurated.

While the other three hubs at Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad were inaugurated by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, the eastern hub was inaugurated by state chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti after Chidambaram cancelled his trip to Kolkata.

Speaking at the inauguration, NSG Director General N P S Aulakh said the Salt Lake campus will be the main base of the elite force till the permanent facility at Badu in Madhyamgram (North 24-Parganas) is ready for use.

“We have got the land from the Airports Authority of India at Badu. We expect that the work on the Badu facility will be completed by November,” Aulakh said.

“The NSG hub is intended for anti-terror and anti-hijacking operations. Since this place is close to the airport, anti-terror commandos can be deployed to tackle an emergency situation in a very short time,” Aulakh added. Till the Badu facility is ready, 250 NSG commandos will be stationed at the stadium.

The new NSG hub at Badu, he said, will spread over 20 acres. The NSG has also asked for land from the state government to set up a training centre for the commandos. Once the Badu campus is ready, the strength of the NSG commandos will be increased to 5,000.

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