NSG commandos conduct mock drills in Ayodhya

The National Security Guard (NSG) has been conducting mock drills at the newly constructed Ram Temple, Hanuman Garhi and Kanak Bhawan in Ayodhya over the past two days to practice security and rescue operations that may be required in case of any threat, senior police officials said on Saturday.

Ayodhya Range Inspector General (IG) of Police Praveen Kumar confirmed that NSG officials, along with a team of commandos, who were camping in Ayodhya since July 17, carried out a mock drill near Hanumangarhi and Kanak Bhawan around 11 pm on Friday. He said the mock drill was chosen at night as the area was less crowded then.

He said the training exercise began at Dasrath Mahal and Hanuman Garhi, during which the commandos practiced and planned the strategy for carrying out rescue operations and fending off terrorist attacks.

The IG said a similar exercise was held at the Ram temple on Thursday evening.

He said the NSG team was on a four-day visit to Ayodhya from Wednesday to assess and evaluate the security of one of the country’s most at-risk installations, the Ram Temple.

Another police official said the NSG team had analysed the flow of people and security of the entire Ram temple premises following possible terror threats and the team had learnt about the layout of the premises.

The official said the NSG team conducted the training exercises in coordination with local police and other CAPF units to enhance capacity and reduce response time in case of any adverse situation.

In the second week of June, the Union government announced that the NSG would soon set up units in Ayodhya, Pathankot and Kerala. The unit in Ayodhya will be operational by the end of this year. It will help the local police and other CAPF units to build capacity and reduce the response time of the NSG in case of an adverse situation.

Notably, the NSG unit in Ayodhya will be armed with specialised weapons and anti-drone measures. There will be eight NSG hubs in the country after the three new hubs, including the one in Ayodhya, become operational. Currently, five regional hubs of NSG in Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai and Gandhinagar are operational. These locations have been identified based on threat perception and their geographical proximity to nearby sensitive locations.