Shinde pitches for NCTC post Bangalore blast

New Delhi, April 22 (IANS) Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Monday said there was a need to strengthen the intelligence set-up of states and quickly put in place the proposed anti-terror hub, NCTC, to prevent incidents like the April 17 Bangalore blast.

"We have now a revised formulation of NCTC which takes care of the objections of the states," Shinde said in a statement on the Bangalore blast tabled in the Lok Sabha.

"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."

"We are trying to strengthen the human intelligence component in our intelligence agencies. That will start yielding results. We also need to quickly put the NCTC in place," Shinde added.

The setting up of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) has been a bone of contention with several states which have contended that it would affect the federal structure of the constitution.

The home minister also said there was a need to have tighter laws on explosives.

Giving details on investigations into the Bangalore blasts, Shinde said: "The FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) experts opined that explosive materials used could be nitrate compounds."

"CCTV footage collected from the entry-exit routes, toll tax gates, apartments, traffic junctions, temples and BJP office are being analyzed to locate the culprits," he added.

Sixteen people were injured in a blast in front of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office in Bangalore on April 17 morning.