NSG Hubs: Army Has its Task Cut Out

By Vineet Verma

Army Will Have To Provide About 12,000 Personnel Despite Its Own Manpower Crunch

Already grappling with an acute shortage of officers, the Army will have a tough time in providing manpower to the four regional NSG hubs announced by the Centre in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror strikes.

Calculations underway in the defence ministry show the Army may have to contribute as many as 570 officers, 1,680 JCOs and 9,800 soldiers in phases for the four proposed NSG hubs. “In Phase-I itself, this will mean around 220 officers, 600 JCOs and 3,470 soldiers,’’ said a ministry source. The Army already contributes around 140 officers, 520 JCOs and 3,800 soldiers to the 7,500-strong NSG. The Special Action Group (SAG) of NSG, tasked with anti-terror operations, is exclusively manned by Army personnel on deputation.

The NSG’s Special Rangers Group (SRG), in turn, which draws its personnel from paramilitary forces like BSF, ITBP, RAF and CRPF, basically acts in a supporting role, apart from also providing VIP protection. The overall training in NSG is also handled by Army.

Apart from criticism that such a vast expansion of an elite force like NSG will lead to dilution in standards, there are several other problems dogging the plan to create the four NSG hubs.

For one, states are jostling with each other to ensure the hubs are located within their respective territories. Initially, the four hubs were to be located at Mumbai, Chennai, Bhopal and Kolkata.

But the move has got embroiled in narrow politics. Congress chief ministers of Assam and Andhra Pradesh, Tarun Gogoi and Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, have already pitched for shifting the Kolkata one to Guwahati and the Bhopal one to Hyderabad, respectively. Then, there is tussle between Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram for the South Indian hub. Moreover, it’s not going to be easy to locate a minimum of 1,000 acres in each city for the hub, and that too near the airport. “It will simply not be possible in a city like Mumbai, and that will add to the reaction time in case of an emergency,’’ said an official.

The manpower crunch, similarly, will be difficult to resolve, especially with both SAG and SRG already short of personnel.

The Army, on its part, has an “authorised’’ strength of 46,615 officers but is making do with 35,387 at present, with almost all these vacancies being in the “fighting ranks’’ of Lt-Colonels, Majors, Captains and Lieutenants.