'Poor progress in beefing up intel set up'

Against the backdrop of Bangalore blast, Centre on Thursday said it has been advising states on the need to strengthen their intelligence set up but has "not seen much progress" on that front.

Some 16 persons, including 11 police personnel were injured in a blast outside the BJP office on April 17. In a statement in the Rajya Sabha on the blast, Minister of State for Home Affairs RPN Singh made a pitch for setting up NCTC to strengthen intelligence gathering. He said the Home Ministry was working to put in place an explosive tracking system.

"We also need to strengthen the intelligence set up of the states. We have been advising the states on this, but we have not seen much progress," Singh said. He said the government was also trying to strengthen human intelligence component of intelligence agencies, which is expected to start yielding results.

"We also need to quickly put the NCTC in place. We have now a revised formulation of NCTC which takes care of the objections of the states," he said. The setting up of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) has been a bone of contention with several states contending that it affected the federal structure of the Constitution.

Underscoring the need for tighter checks on explosives, he said the Home Ministry was working with the Department of Industrial Policy and Planning and the National Institute of Smart Government to create an explosives tracking system.

"But the problems will remain till District Magistrates and Superintendents of Police have the stocks and consumption of the licensed explosive users checked more often and more stringently," he said.