Proposal to set up Special Protection Group to combat terror approved
Friday, 11/08/2017
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=179355&boxid=58814&uid=&dat=2017-08-11
Chandigarh : Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday approved a proposal of the state police to set up an elite specially trained Special Protection Group (SPG) to deal with any terror attack and other threats in the state which shares border with Pakistan.
“The contours of the proposed SPG, a small but effective 270-member young and dynamic team, were discussed at a meeting chaired by the chief minister,” an official spokesperson said here.
The SPG will be set up, with a clear mandate to neutralise armed aggressors and to combat terrorism, besides infiltration, hijacking, hostage-taking and other sensitive threat situations.
The chief minister had also suggested that a small core team from the SPG could be sent to Israel for the latest and state-of-the-art counter insurgency training.
According to the proposal discussed during the meeting, the SPG would be headed by an ADGP rank official with an IG and a DIG rank officer to assist him.
The SPG would be divided into three teams, headed by a SP rank officer who would be of less than 35 years of age. The DSP rank officers in the team would be younger than 30 years and ORs would be in the age group of 18-25 years, the spokesperson said.
These teams would specialise in tackling different situations and would be trained both by the army and the NSG.
Amarinder said the process to identify officers and personnel for the SPG, who would be drawn from various police departments should commence immediately.
