New Delhi: Weeks before the 10th anniversary of the deadly 26/11 attack in Mumbai Union home secretary Rajiv Gauba will host a meeting on November 6 with state director generals of police and home secretaries. They will discuss improving the counter-terrorism capabilities of state police departments based on the first-ever audit of these conducted by the National Security Guards (NSG).

The NSG audit, which was made between March and June, has found the capability of the police apparatus to fight terrorist attacks in at least 20 states including Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and places them in the ‘average’ and ‘below average’ category.

States that were placed in the ‘very good’ category include Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra; while those in the ‘good’ category were Gujarat, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

The Mumbai terror attack claimed 174 lives with over 300 injured. After this incident that shook the nation, the police departments of each state were decided to have a dedicated counter-terrorism force.

The counter-terrorism force would be the first respondent in case of a terror attack and the NSG would be the second.

The security audit was conducted on parameters such as organisation structure, manpower management, equipment, weaponry and mobility. 

The NSG has five commando hubs – Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad) apart from Delhi to neutralise terrorist strikes. 

“It is up to the initiative of the individual states. For example, as DGP of Odisha, we formed a special ops group for tactical roles. It was a small group that was specially trained for anti-terror ops in built -up and urban areas,” said Prakash Mishra, former DGP Odisha and CRPF.