New Delhi: Terming as "unfinished agenda"
his plan of setting up a National Counter Terrorism Centre, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram Thursday hoped that he will be
able to secure an early government nod for it.
Speaking to the country`s top police brass at a function
here, Chidambaram said, "The most important unfinished agenda
is the National Counter Terrorism Centre. It was an idea that
I had unveiled in my Intelligence Bureau Centenary Endowment
Lecture delivered in December, 2009."
The Home Minister said the "underlying premise is that
there is a subtle difference between anti-terrorism and
counter terrorism and quoted from the National Strategy for
Counter Terrorism published by the US Government "to disrupt,
dismantle and eventually defeat" the terrorist groups.
The Home Minister said while the country did not have an
organisation devoting its whole time and energy to that task
but was hopeful of securing "a Government decision on setting
up the NCTC.
"Once there is a decision, I am confident that the core team of NCTC can be installed within 60 days and the full structure can be put together within 12-18 months," he said.
He said other programmes for augmenting intelligence gathering mechanism including Crime and Criminal Tracking
Network and Systems (CCTNS).
"From time to time there have been slippages but we have
taken corrective steps and I am hopeful that the nationwide
network will be in place by March, 2013," he said.
He said the other ambitious project was NATGRID which
got the Government approval on June 6, 2011 and "I believe
that it is proceeding according to schedule and the phases
that have been approved will be completed in 18 months.
PTI
