E-Paper
Thanks, but no thanks, say Maya and Jaya
SIXTEEN women commandos of the prestigious National Security Guards (NSG), who were to be deployed in the security of former CM Mayawati and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha, will now be deputed in some flights of Air India and the Indian (earlier known as Indian Airlines). They will serve as sky marshals and deal with hijackers, if so required. The decision was taken following the reported refusal of Mayawati and Jayalalitha to accept the woman commandos in their security cordon.
SIXTEEN women commandos of the prestigious National Security Guards (NSG), who were to be deployed in the security of former CM Mayawati and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha, will now be deputed in some flights of Air India and the Indian (earlier known as Indian Airlines). They will serve as sky marshals and deal with hijackers, if so required.
The decision was taken following the reported refusal of Mayawati and Jayalalitha to accept the woman commandos in their security cordon.
However, director general of the NSG and special secretary (internal security) AK Mitra denied that the duo had refused to accept the women commandos and said the Government had now decided to deploy them in planes on priority due to increasing terrorist threat and to prevent any possible attempt of hijacking planes.
Mitra told the Hindustan Times on Friday that the idea to include women commandos was mooted a few years ago for deployment in some of flights going to Bangladesh and Kabul on experimental basis but later the plan was shelved and it was decided that they would be part of VVIP security of Mayawati and Jayalalitha. However, now it had been decided once again that it would be better to deploy them in planes.
The 16 commandos were being trained afresh and it would take about a month’s time when they take over security in planes, he said adding, more women would be trained as commandos if the experiment succeeded.
It was for the first time that woman commandos were included in the prestigious NSG responsible for providing security cover to VVIPs with a view to deploy them in the security of the former and present chief ministers.
Sixteen of them, all from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), had undergone rigorous training for about three years to become Black Commandos.
The commandos had shown skill in gunning down terrorists who had attacked the Akshardham Temple in Gujarat. However, a number of NSG commandos were now providing security cover to politicians, including LK Advani, former UP chief minister Kalyan Singh, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, former UP chief minister Rajnath Singh, Farooq Abdullah, Prakash Singh Badal and others.
