Mumbai, Dec 3 (IANS) An elite 142-strong Maharashtra Security Guards (MSG) is being set up on the lines of the National Security Guard (NSG) with an initial grant of Rs.50 million to prevent the repeat of the Mumbai terrorist attack, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said Wednesday.
The personnel for the first battalion will be drawn from the Maharashtra police and they will be imparted top-class commando training by the NSG, he said.
Within four months, 60 personnel would be added to the force, Deshmukh told a high-level state security review meeting in the shadow of last Wednesday's Mumbai terror attacks which left 183 dead and 294 injured.
Discussing the hitherto unattended aspect of terrorists arriving by the sea routes, the chief minister said the state government would purchase four high-speed vessels equipped with sophisticated communication and navigational aids.
He said that although the central government had agreed to provide similar vessels to guard the state's 760-km coastline, there could be a delay in getting them.
In the meantime, the state government would go ahead with the purchases to ward off any potential terror threats coming from the sea routes in the future.
In a related measure, the government has also decided to issue 'smart cards' to all the 55,000 fishermen in the state by March 31, 2009.
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