New Delhi, Oct 05: Declaring that both short and medium-range nuclear-capable Agni ballistic missiles were ready for deployment, Defence Minister George Fernandes today said the country's nuclear command chain, including alternative "nerve centres," was in place, giving India an effective retaliatory capability. "We have established more than one (nuclear control) nerve Centre," he told a news agency in an interview in which he disclosed that other nuclear command and control structures like nuclear command shelters and VVIP shelters have also been established.

To a question whether action has been taken to safeguard the country's nerve centres like North Block, South Block and Parliament, Fernandes said "all necessary steps to provide these vital places protection" have been taken. On the possibility of the use of delhi metro underground tunneling as nuclear shelter, he merely said "some countries have modified underground railway network to turn into shelters".

Elaborating on the process of deployment of 700 km-range Agni-I and 1500 to 2000 km-range Agni-II missiles, Fernandes said "these have been handed over to the army for deployment". He said the production of longer-range variant of the missile -- Agni-III --was under production and its exact timing for its test firing were being finalised.

In the interview, the Defence Minister said that Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) set up would be in place within a "few months" and that pace of modernisation of armed forces had been accelerated. Bureau Report