NSG recces, prepares 3D mapsof over 50 ‘sensitive’ facilities

Federal contingency force NSG has conducted reconnaissance and three-dimensional mapping of 50 “sensitive” installations across the country, including religious places and nuclear power bases, as part of its preparation to launch swift operations in case these locations are targeted by terrorists.
Officials said among the vital religious sites are the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Jammu and the Akshardham temple in Delhi. The ‘black cats’ commando force, according to NSG Director General (DG) Brighu Srinivasan, also played a role during Operation Sindoor when its bomb detection and disposal teams defused an “explosive payload carrying” drone at the Jammu airport.
The DG was speaking during the inauguration of the two-day 23rd international National Security Guard (NSG) seminar themed ‘Forging innovation and collaboration to counter terror threats and address the complexities of modern terrorism’.
Officials told PTI that NSG teams also recovered dead drones from bordering areas that flew in from Pakistan after the Operation Sindoor apart from seizing Kamikaze drones. The operation was launched by India in retaliation to the Pahalgam terrorist attack in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed.
The NSG was raised in 1984 and its ‘black cat’ commandos are tasked to undertake specific counter-terrorist and counter-hijack operations apart from protecting high-risk VIPs.
“We have conducted reconnaissance of various sensitive targets across the country and this includes 17 religious sites, 21 nuclear facilities and 14 other such installations. A 3D mapping exercise of these sites is being undertaken,” the DG said.
He said the commandos of the force are training to reach swiftly and in a “time-bound” manner at any required location by air, land or water. Besides, in order to reduce their time they are practising to move with a lesser load of equipment and the strength of such teams (task force) has also been reduced, he added.
Srinivasan said the force has also engaged in a counter-Naxalite role and a team of its commandos is deployed in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) district of Gadchiroli in Maharashtra to undertake joint operations with the state police forces.
He said the NSG also undertook a joint exercise with the district reserve guard (DRG) unit of Chhattisgarh Police deployed for anti-Naxal operations in the state.
The DRG, as per officials, draws about 20 per cent of its strength from surrendered Maoists while the rest are locals from the state including tribals.
“We are strengthening the NSG clusters (five bases of the force located across the country) so that they can tackle any counter-terrorist situation independently,” Srinivasan said.
Apart from its main garrison in Manesar (Haryana) near Delhi, the NSG has hubs in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Gandhinagar.
The DG said the Union home ministry has directed the NSG to skill various state police forces in tackling terrorist attacks and incidents, improvised explosive device (IED) and similar sabotage situations. Hence, it has enhanced its training capacity to 13,000 commandos from 8,000 last year and by the end of 2025, the number would be further scaled up to 20,000 state police personnel who can be trained by the NSG.
“We have prepared customised capsule courses for state police forces to train them in anti-terrorist, anti-hijack, bomb disposal, VIP security (personal security officer) and tactical driving and counter-drone operations,” he said.
In January this year, the commando force also conducted a “security audit” of India’s inland cruise liners and undertook counter-hijack drills onboard these vessels plying in the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers, he said.
The DG said the NSG is also going to “enhance” train intervention exercises in order to neutralise potential terrorist and hijack incidents onboard the railways, the life line of public travel in the country.
A team of the NSG is already deployed in Jammu and Kashmir as part of ‘Operation Zorawar’, which is to undertake joint counter-terrorist operations with the various security forces operating in the Union Territory.
“We have undertaken such an exercise in Jammu recently along with the state police and the Railway Protection Force (RPF),” he said.
The NSG is the only force authorised to undertake counter-hijack operations onboard aircraft and the ‘black cat’ commandos, as per the DG, have undertaken 180 such drills last year.
Union Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai, officiated as the chief guest during the event. He said that the Modi government made it clear during Operation Sindoor that Indian forces would respond bravely and effectively to terrorist incidents.
“The Pahalgam terror incident has not “weakened” but strengthened our resolve against terrorism,” Rai said.