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20% seats in Talegaon-Dabhade institute for state police forces; 2 from city bomb squad begin course The Maharashtra Police are set to benefit from a new CRPF training school for bomb-handling in Talegaon-Dabhade as it has 20 per cent of its seats reserved for state police forces.
A member of the city bomb disposal squad, from where two officers
have begun training at the IEM. File pics
The first-of-its-kind Institute of IED Management (IEM) started two months ago is located at the CRPF Group Headquarters in Talegaon-Dabhade and two men from the city Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) are already undergoing training along with officers from other state police forces.
The institute has 100 seats. It has initially taken in a batch of 50 that includes two officers each from the state, West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand police forces. Another 40 officers are from the CRPF.
The institute will be officially inaugurated by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in a function at the centre today.
Official opening today: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram is to
inaugurate the Institute of IED Management today
Five-week course
The five-week course will see bomb experts, chemical engineers, forensic experts and defence scientists giving tutorials to security personnel on the functioning, handling and defusing of IEDs along with lessons in the history of explosives.
The next batch will see all seats occupied and include personnel from other paramilitary forces like the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Border Security Force (BSF).
IEDs and terrorists
According to CRPF officials, the need for the school was felt after IEDs became commonly used in all major terror attacks worldwide and particularly in India.
"There is still a lack of awareness about the technology since IEDs are constantly evolving into deadlier weapons. A weapon becomes dangerous when the technical know-how can be commonly accessed, can be homemade, and can be diversified using a variety of materials depending upon the target and the purpose of the attack," a CRPF official said.
IEDs were used in 70 per cent of the blasts that took place in the country in recent years.
The official said that the technology behind the IEDs allows for a lot of diversification depending on the purpose and the target.
"The basic system can be adopted in several forms and anti-social elements are still carrying out further diversification; thus the term 'improvised'. The exploding substance (charge) ranges from unexploded bomb shells, simple dynamites, grenades, mines or even tailor-made explosives using chemicals specific for the nature and intensity of the attack. It also involves electrical sciences because of the use of detonators, activators and timers along with material technology for the body of the 'container' carrying the exploding substance," he said.
Anti-tank IEDs contain more sensitive and high-exploding mixture of chemicals while the ones used for exclusively killing soldiers will have shrapnel with nails, ball bearings and sharp metal pieces to cause maximum injuries.
"Heat sensors (infra-red technology), timers for self explosion and wireless and mobile phone technology for remote detonation is also used. Thus, the combination of technologies is endless, warranting proper training,"
the official said. | 
