Chidambaram promises better weapons as NSG celebrates silver jubilee

Manesar (Haryana), Oct 16 (ANI): Praising the valour and sacrifice made by commandos of the National Security Guards (NSG) during the 26/11, Union Home Minister P.Chidambaram on Friday promised them better hi-tech weaponry.

The NSG, also known as the Black Cats is celebrating its silver jubilee today.

Chidambaram said: "The country would never forget the supreme sacrifice made by the NSG commandos during the Mumbai terror attacks."

"We also remember the supreme sacrifice of NSG commandos Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan and Hawildar Gajender Singh and the entire force who fought valiantly to liquidate the terrorists in Mumbai in November last year," he added.

He also informed the gathering of the Centre's decision to procure high-tech and sophisticated weapons for the NSG, which would help commandos in dealing with any terror threat.

"The NSG is going to induct high-tech and sophisticated weapons in the coming days," Chidambaram said.

He also dedicated a song penned by lyricist Gulzar and sung by Shankar Mahadevan to the NSG on the occasion.

The NSG was set up in 1984 as a Federal Contingency Deployment Force to tackle all facets of terrorism in the country, with the primary role of combating terrorism in whatever forms it may assume.

The NSG is a force specially equipped and trained to deal with specific situations and is therefore, to be used only in exceptional situations.

It is a task-oriented force and has two complementary elements in the form of the Special Action Group (SAG) comprising Army personnel and the Special Ranger Groups (SRG), comprising personnel drawn from the Central Police Forces and State Police Force.

After the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, a need was felt to have NSG present in other metros also for an effective and quick response in countering such incidents. Thus four regional hubs were raised and operationalised at Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata. (ANI)