New Delhi: The Maharashtra government is set to revamp its intelligence network and develop a "dedicated" cadre for information gathering to beef up security in the state.
Dismissing allegations that the blasts had exposed chinks in the state's intelligence set-up, Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil on Tuesday said his government would recondition its security network under which the personnel will be better equipped to deal with terrorism.
"We will soon have a new intelligence set-up with direct recruits from the officer level who would be specially trained for the purpose," Patil said.
The state also plans to partially do away with the current policy of deputing personnel from the police force to the state intelligence department, which will now have permanent staff, he said.
The staff will be trained in foreign languages, political ideology and equipped with the latest technology to help them keep tabs on socio-economic undercurrents in the state.
"At present the state police is equipped to nab criminals operating in the state. We will train them to deal with crimes like terrorism," Patil said.
Besides equipping the specialised personnel with hi-tech gadgets, the state has decided to offer them better working conditions including good salaries, he said.
Citing the 9/11 attacks in the US and blasts on the train networks in London and Madrid, Patil, who also holds the home portfolio, said, "No country can boast of fool-proof intelligence. There are gaps in intelligence and terrorists take advantage of the same."
Patil brushed aside suggestions about a lack of coordination between state and central intelligence agencies over the handling of security alerts.
"The fact that arms and explosives were recovered from several places across the state and the foiling of an attempt to attack the RSS headquarters in Nagpur is testimony to better coordination between these agencies," he said.
The Anti-Terrorist Squad of the state police had seized a huge cache of arms, including 10 AK-47 assault rifles and 30 kg of RDX, from Aurangabad in Marathwada region in May following a tip-off from central intelligence agencies.
The state police received cash awards from the governments of Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh for foiling the attack on the RSS headquarters and solving within days a multi-crore diamond heist respectively.
Patil also lauded the state police for helping get Mumbai back to normal within hours of the July 11 blasts that killed 200 people and injured over 700.
But the Shiv Sena-BJP opposition had been accusing the state government of "intelligence failure" over the Mumbai blasts.
"I fail to understand how the police force, which has been honoured by two state governments, is suddenly blamed for failing to act on intelligence inputs," he said.
Patil said all state governments had been receiving general warnings from central intelligence agencies about possible attacks but no specific warning was ever issued.
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