Convert challenge into opportunity: PM

After Parliament's unanimous nod to unitedly fight terrorism, PM Manmohan Singh has asked senior police officers to convert the challenge into an opportunity to make the internal security more effective, reports Aloke Tikku.

Picking up the strings from Thursday’s parliamentary debate on the Mumbai terror attacks, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday told Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan to take all steps to restore people’s faith in the security establishment

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Singh said the Mumbai attacks had created a new consensus to strengthen India’s security set-up and called upon the security establishment to turn the challenge into an opportunity to streamline the systems involving intelligence collection, investigation and crime.

The PM said it was important for Chavan and his deputy, Chagan Bhujbal, to restore the confidence of people since Maharashtra was not only home to India’s financial capital but also accounted for 45 per cent of the country’s total industrial production.

“He directed that the state intelligence machinery should be strengthened," said a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office a day after Parliament passed a resolution condemning the Mumbai attacks.

Singh promised to ensure that files relating to proposals from the state would move faster in the Union government and the Coast Guard would be strengthened with additional speedboats and state of the art weapons.