Kolkata NSG hub - Rajarhat
Rana Bose
Kolkata NSG hub finally gets a home
Just five days ahead of the
second anniversary of the Mumbai terror attack, the two-year-long search for a
training centre for the elite National Security Guards (NSG) came to an end in
Kolkata with the hub set to come up on a 300-acre plot of land at
Jagadishpur-Rajarhat area near the Dum Dum airport.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs is paying Rs 600 crore to the state government to acquire the land. It is to be based on the model of the NSG hub in Manesar.
Following the 26/11 attack, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had announced the setting up of four more NSG hubs — in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad — in the country.
The NSG has already submitted the Detailed Project Report to the state government in this regard. Confirming this, Union Home Secretary Gopal Krishna Pillai said: “Yes, the unit is going to be set up on a 300-acre land near Kolkata and work will start soon. The project is very much on in West Bengal.”
By choosing a 300-acre plot, the NSG has cut down on its demand for a 600-acre plot. The unit will respond to any terror attack that may take place in any state of the eastern region.
At present, the NSG unit in Kolkata is stationed at a temporary barrack at Badu — 25 km from the Dum Dum airport. It regularly conducts mock drills at different vital installations — the last one having been held at the Metro station at Esplanade.
Since January 2009, NSG teams had visited the state several times, conducting recce in various ares, including Panagarh in Burdwan district, Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas, Kaikhali near Dum Dum and Dankuni in Hooghly district. |
Rana Bose
WB Govt allots more land to industries at Rajarhat
Kolkata, Nov 23 (PTI) In the midst of corruption charges by the Trinamool in land acquisition at Rajarhat, the West Bengal Government today allotted plots to various private and government sectors like IT, defence, education and others.
State agency HIDCO at its board meeting decided to allot land to IT giant Infosys, besides DRDO, Coast Guard, CBI, NTPC, Bengal Science and Technical University (BESU), Housing minister Gautam Deb told reporters here.
The DRDO would open its research laboratory for the first time in the eastern region, while CBI was given land to build its officers'' quarters, he said.
Land was also allotted to Coast Guard to construct an establishment here, he said, adding that NTPC was given plot for its regional headquarters, besides 10 acre for the second campus of BESU.
"HIDCO also decided to allot land to biotech company TCG Life Sciences and Jindal steel," he said.
The agency also allotted plots to five joint-sector companies to develop a central business district in Rajarhat.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has alleged that there was a massive land scam in land acquisition at Rajarhat over the years.