The elite Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Mumbai police will take shape soon adding punch to the offensive capabilities of the numero uno police force in the country. The formal government approval for the formation of the ATS -- the first of its kind in the country -- is expected in a fortnight's time and thereafter it will take shape in a matter of few months, a top crime branch-CID official said.
The 76-member force would be headed by Joint Commissioner of police (crime) Dr Satyapal Singh.
Senior officials said that the force would be divided into two teams. While one would be exclusively for Mumbai another will be for rest of Maharashtra, according to the officials.
Once the formal approval is received, officers and men from various ranks including deputy inspector general, superintendents of police, deputy superintendents of police besides inspectors would be inducted, the official pointed out.
''The team would be equipped with latest technical gadgets, state-of-the-art weaponry, mental make up and the will to fight,'' Dr Singh said when contacted.
The salary levels of this force is expected to be higher than regular policemen because of the risks involved, a senior official stated.
The decision to form the ats was taken after the recent spate of blasts in the city since december, which has been described as ''an act of terrorism'' by Police Commissioner Ranjeet Singh Sharma.
The 20-odd accused arrested so far in these cases involved in the four blasts had been booked under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).
Meanwhile, the Quick Reaction Team (QRT) of the Mumbai police has
already been formed. The QRT works under Joint Commissioner of
police (law and order) Javed Ahmed.
Members of the 56-member squad were deployed for the first time in the city on saturday last, when a cisf constable Rajendra Namdeo pumped in five bullets on his Deputy Commandant Ajay Karanjekar and later took six of his colleagues including five women constables as hostage.
Though the qrt was kept in readiness, senior police officials negotiated with the constable and pursuaded him to hand over the self loading rifle that he was carrying, thus ending the seven-hour crisis.
Prior to this the Special Operations Squad (SOS) existed and these commandos were trained by battle-hardened veteran Colonel (retd) M P Choudhary, who raised country's first anti-hijack squad in the early eighties.
The ATS would be on the lines of the elite National Security Guard (NSG), popularly known as 'black cat' commandos. The NSG has officers and men drawn from the Indian army and various police forces across the country.
The latest operation that NSG carried out was at Akshardham in Septmeber last, when two armed militants sneaked inside the temple
at Gandhinagar and killed over 30 people.
However, the NSG team flew in from Delhi and the militants were liquidated.
Of late because of the increasing militant activities, the need to have specialised commandos was felt. Though NSG tackles these sort of crisis, such team is being formed here, so that the crack team can reach the site without losing much time.
Once the new headquarters at Kalina in Mumbai is completed, the QRT and the ATS would be based here under a proper command structure.
