After lakhs go down drain, training finally takes off

Head of centre enjoyed pay and perks without much work for over a year as state kept waiting for suitable piece of land

After lakhs go down drain, training finally takes off

Head of centre enjoyed pay and perks without much work for over a year as state kept waiting for suitable piece of land

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AFTER wasting over a year waiting for a suitable place and lakhs on a commando trainer who had little to do all this while, the Home Department has finally settled on a piece of land to school its personnel in tackling terrorists and Naxals.

The training for the chosen personnel is on par with that provided to the National Security Guards, and includes handling hijacking situations in air and on land, bomb disposal, hostage rescue and so on

Initially, the Home Department had identified land in the reserve forest in Kudremukh to set up its Commando Training Centre, but it failed to get a clearance from the Forest Department for its use.

A whole year rolled by in this process, during which the department ended up spending lakhs of rupees on the special officer on deputation from the Indian Army to train the state's future commandos.

Origins of plan
After the Centre denied the state a National Security Guard (NSG) training centre two years ago, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa had announced that the state would go for its own commando training centre that would be on par with the NSG facility to take on terrorists and Naxals effectively.

Soon the Home Department had mooted the proposal and sought the Indian Army's help in this regard.

Considering the request, the Centre deputed an army officer of the rank of brigadier to head the training centre in October 2009. Then, the state hit a roadblock when it could not get clearance for the training centre land.

"The entire plan had come to an abrupt halt as the department was not getting clearance from the Forest Department to identify and acquire land to set up the training centre," said a highly placed source in the home department.

Rs 1.23 lakh/month
Brigadier K A Muthanna, who was deputed on October 19, 2009, and assigned the task of forming his own team of officers from the ranks of the state police force to proceed with the training process, has been enjoying all perks along with his salary for a over a year without work.

His pay and allowances come to no less than Rs 1.23 lakh per month. In addition to this, Muthanna was given supporting staff in his Internal Security Division headquarters, along with vehicles, telephones, Internet facility and other requirements.

The state government also bears his entire expenditure of TA/DA while on tour and any other expenditure incurred in the discharge of his duties.

Training begins
After waiting for over a year, the Home Department decided to make use of its own land at Koodlu near the central prison, which is used by the state reserve police for routine training.

According to officials, the training for the chosen personnel is on par with that provided to the National Security Guards, and includes neutralisation of terrorist threats, handling hijacking situations in air and on land, bomb disposal (search, detection and neutralisation), post-blast investigation, engaging and neutralising terrorists in specific situations andu00a0 so on.

"The training also includes armed and unarmed combat, jungle survival, guerrilla warfare and survival techniques," said a senior police officer supervising the training.
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"At present we have taken a batch of 60 personnel from the KSRP battalion, who are about to complete the training." The officer added that the internal security wing has proposed to take up another batch soon.

Additional Director General of Police (administration) J V Goankar said that the department is facing a technical problem in terms of procuring the land. Since it was decided to set up the training camp at Kudremukh, which is reserved as national park, we would not be able to get the land. We have already started a training camp at Koodlu as makeshift arrangements, he added.

Additional Director General of Police (Internal Security) Bipin Gopal Krishna, who is in charge of the operations, said because of non-availability of land, the department decided set up the camp at Koodlu last November.

He said the 60 KSRP personnel in the first batch that has received commando training are now specialised in handling insurgency situations such as terrorist and Naxal attacks.

According to officials, the department has given up hope on getting the land it originally desired from the Forest Department.

"We don't want to antagonise the Centre over this issue again and decided to settle on our own space since it's been a waste of resources for over a year now," said an official.

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