PUNE: The state department for home has marked Rs 300 crore for an ambitious plan to raise world class facilities for
training commandoes of its special units, Force One, in urban and jungle warfare at Pune and Nagpur, respectively.
The plan forms part of the Rs 500-crore proposal moved by the state chief minister, Ashok Chavan, to the Union government during the chief ministers' conference earlier this week. "The Government of India has agreed to releasing funds for these projects and we are now into discussions with the Union home ministry officials for finalising the release," state's additional chief secretary (home) Chandra Iyengar told TOI on Friday.
She added: "We have marked Rs 300 crore for the two Force One units alone. The remaining amount asked for will be utilised for other purposes such as police training
academies and strengthening of the force."
Iyengar said, "The idea is to develop the two special commando units into a highly focused and state-of-the-art forces dealing with urban and jungle warfare situations." These forces will operate on the lines of the country's elite special response unit, the National
Security Guards (NSG). "We are getting vital inputs from NSG as well as the Israeli forces, which have developed high expertise in urban combat," she added.
The two Force One units in the state were raised in the aftermath of the sensational 26/11 terror attacks on Mumbai. The rising instances of attacks by naxalites in the tribal districts like Gadchiroli over the last one year also underlined the need for such special forces.
While the Force One in Pune is mandated for training commandoes in urban combat, the other unit in Nagpur known as Anti Hawks is for training in jungle warfare. The state government has been working in tandem with the Union government for developing apt training facilities for these units.
For now, a crack team of 250 state police personnel at Force One, Pune, have been using the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) Group-I's sprawling firing range in the hilly terrain of Wadachi Wadi, about 20 km from the SRP camp at Ramtekdi near Hadapsar.
Iyengar said, "The ongoing training activity constitutes basic army and police training exercises. We have to go beyond that by establishing better facilities."
Deputy Inspector General S Jagannathan, who is heading Force One, Pune, told TOI, "Right now, we have basic minimum facilities like firing range, small barracks, building models, etc for carrying out our training activity at Wadachi Wadi. The hilly terrain presents certain natural advantages to enable the practice of activities such as rock-climbing, slithering, etc."
However, Jagannathan said, "We need to add lots of more training facilities replicating the typical urban scenario. For instance, a small urban colony model. Similarly, we need state-of-the-art simulators, a grenade lobbing range, new obstacles, a modern swimming pool and a gymnasium, among other things."
Jagannathan said, "The existing area for training is not a constraint. We have lot of area at the SRP firing range. However, our trainee commandoes are unable to camp at Wadachi Wadi and have to make to-and-fro trips each day from Ramtekdi to the firing range. This consumes lots of vital time as well as energy."
