PUNE: The training for the induction of the second phase of Maharashtra’s first state commando unit “Force One” was inaugurated by state Home Minister Jayant Patil at the State Police Reserve Police Force (SRPF) headquarters in Hadapsar suburb of Pune on Thursday.
The commandos of “Force One” trained on the lines of the National Security Guards (NSG) will get world recognition, Patil asserted at the inauguration function. “The ‘Force One’ was constituted to tackle terror situations in the state,” Patil said and reassured that the government would provide all resources to the unit.
Patil told Arab News that the force has been formed after the last year’s Mumbai terror attacks, as it took more than seven hours for the NSG commandos to reach the terror spots. This force is trained to see that such a situation does not arise.
Two hundred police personnel have been chosen for the “Force One” after a tough selection procedure from among 1,600 candidates. The selected commandos will undergo preparatory and induction training for four months from today, Patil added.
Patil said that the “Force One” would have its headquarters in Mumbai and regional offices in Pune and Nagpur, and will consist of one deputy inspector general, one superintendent of police, four inspectors, eight assistant police inspectors, 32 sub-inspectors and 200 police commandos.
Surprisingly, the inauguration function also witnessed some tough talk and brickbats from state Director General of Police S.S. Virk, who in his speech, said that the police officers need to lead the team from the front during emergencies and not stick to their rooms and offices. “We can’t be leaders in rooms and officers. We can’t let down our people,” he sounded strongly in an indirect reference to senior police officers present at the function.
However, in moral boosting words, Virk encouraged the 200 selected cops by telling them that he would like to lead the “Force One” in emergencies, adding that the Maharashtra police had serious challenges ahead and that the commandos should be ready to face any kind of situation.
