The need for a quicker response to events like the Mumbai terror attack last month may have revived the idea of setting up regional centres of the National Security Guard (NSG) across the country, but as the elite commando force now gets down to working out how to implement the proposal, the enormity of the task stares it in the face.

To begin with, the NSG would require a minimum 1,000 acres of land in each of the four cities in which it plans to set up its regional hubs — this would be the very least required to set up training grounds, infrastructure for training and management, residential facilities and office areas. Incidentally, NSG’s garrison at Manesar in Gurgaon, its sole training facility, is spread over an area of 1,600 acres.

“We would preferably like to set up a centre close to the airport, but that may not be possible in cities like Mumbai where there are enormous land constraints,” an NSG official told The Indian Express. Currently, NSG’s anti-hijack teams are stationed at Samalkha in New Delhi, which is located close to the airport.

According to senior NSG officials, Mumbai and Kolkata will house a regional centre each, while the toss-up for the other two will be between Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Bhopal. A formal proposal to set up these centres has been moved to the Home Ministry, which will now take up the case for making land available with the respective state governments.

But what has the NSG most concerned is the fact that it would need to induct at least 4,000 personnel from the Indian Army and the central paramilitary forces to man the new regional centres. “Each of these four new centres will need to have a strength of around two battalions, roughly 1,000 men, to begin with. With the Army and the paramilitary forces already feeling a staff crunch, it will be difficult for them to spare volunteers for a deputation with NSG,” an NSG official said.

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