NSG commandos conduct mock drills in Ayodhya
The team was on a four-day visit to Ayodhya from Wednesday to assess and review the security of one of the country’s highest-risk installations, the Ram temple
The National Security Guard (NSG) carried out mock drills at the newly built Ram temple, Hanuman Garhi and Kanak Bhawan in Ayodhya over the past two days to rehearse security and rescue operation that might be needed in case of a threat, said senior police officials on Saturday.
Ayodhya Range inspector general (IG) of police Praveen Kumar confirmed that NSG officials, along with a team of commandos, who had been camping in Ayodhya since July 17, carried out a mock drill near Hanumangarhi and Kanak Bhawan around 11 pm on Friday. He said night hours were opted for the mock drill as the area was less crowded.
He said the mock drill was started from Dasrath Mahal and Hanuman Garhi during which the commandos practiced and planned the strategy to carry out rescue operations as well as counter any terrorist attack.
The IG said a similar mock drill was carried out at the Ram temple premises on Thursday night.
He said the NSG team was on a four-day visit to Ayodhya from Wednesday to assess and review the security of one of the country’s highest-risk installations, the Ram temple.
Another police official informed that the NSG team analysed the crowd flow and security deployment of the entire Ram temple premises following possible terror threats and learnt about the layout of the premises.
The official said the NSG team conducted the mock drills in coordination with local police and other CAPF units for capacity building and lessen the response time in case of an adverse situation.
In June second week, the Union government had announced that the NSG will soon create its units in Ayodhya, Pathankot and Kerala. The unit in Ayodhya will be operational by the end of this year. It will help local police and other CAPF units in capacity building and lessen the response time for NSG in case of any adverse situation.
Notably, the NSG unit in Ayodhya will be armed with specialized weapons and anti-drone measures. There will be eight NSG hubs across the country after the three new hubs, including the one at Ayodhya, get operational. Presently, five regional hubs of NSG in Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai and Gandhinagar are operational. These locations were identified based on threat perception and their geographical proximity to nearby sensitive locations.