Under attack, Chavan convenes state security council meet today

Once bitten, twice shy. Under attack for lack of intelligence and coordination among multiple agencies following last week's three bomb blasts in Mumbai, the Maharashtra government has convened a meeting of a 60-member Maharashtra State Security Council (MSSC) tomorrow.

It would be the first meeting for MSSC in the last 18 months. The council was set up in 2009 on the basis of recommendations made by the Ram Pradhan Committee, following the 26/11 terror attacks in city.

MSSC comprises representatives of industry associations, educationists, terror and crime experts.

These groups deliberated on improvement in public awareness and education, security protocol for commercial and other establishments, efforts to curb crimes like hijacking, smuggling and narcotics trade, and increasing interface between industry and administration, among others.

"The chief minister will take stock of the situation and discuss the future course of action with the MSSC members. The government is stepping up anti-terror measures apart from maintaining law and order. The government will discuss the modalities on the implementation of a slew of recommendations made by sub-groups appointed by the council," a home ministry official, who did not want to be identified, told Business Standard.

The sub-groups had categorised the recommendations as technical and non-technical. These were further sub-categorised as industry funding, no-government funding or joint funding. "Ironically, the government could not take decisions on those recommendations where the government funding was not required. In case of industry funding, the government preferred not to act fearing public outcry. This led to government's failure to sit on these crucial recommendations," said the chairman of one sub-group, preferring anonymity.

Further, they called for a single line of command in order to effectively manage and direct major security operations. At present, the crime branch, anti-terrorist squad, National Security Guards, quick response teams, and other similar agencies work during crisis such as July 13 bomb blasts or 26/11 terror attacks.