Gujarat will have its own National Security Guard (NSG) by October 2010. A team of 100 state reserve police commandos has been sent

for NSG training to Rajasthan.

After the terror attack at Taj, Mumbai, in 2008, Gujarat government had announced the setting up of NSG-like force. Confirming this, inspector general of police (training), Vinod Mall of Karai Police Academy, said, “We have selected 100 people for the training.”

In this connection, the state police authorities had hand-picked 300 state reserve police (SRP) commandos, all below 35 years of age. These commandos were first brought to Karai academy and were put through mental and physical tests.

Out of these, 100 jawans were short-listed. Earlier this month, they were sent to Jodhpur in Rajasthan for commando training, sources said.

“At the Rajasthan police academy, these commandos will be trained like NSG jawans by national experts,” said senior state police officials. The selected jawans include seven officers who are sub-inspectors.

During training, these commandos will be divided into eight groups. “Like in the Mumbai terror attack where the NSG commandos coordinated and flushed out terrorists from Taj and Nariman Point, these officers will be trained in all nuances of terror combat including strategising and execution of plans,” said sources.

Gujarat figures high on terror attack list. “In case there is another terror strike, Gujarat will have its own commandos. We will not need to wait for Centre’s NSG commandos to reach the spot. We wasted precious moments in the Akshardham attack case of 2002 but that won’t be repeated,” said police officials.