Finally, Pathankot to get NSG hub

Tribune News Service

Pathankot, June 16

After years of dilly-dallying, the Punjab Government has finally decided to provide 103 acres of land at Skoll village located near the International Border (IB) in this district free of cost to the Central Government for setting up a regional hub of the elite National Security Guards (NSG).

Demand arose post 2016 attack on IAF station

• The demand to set up the project had first arisen in the aftermath of the January 2, 2016, attack on the Indian Air Force station at Pathankot
• The MHA had decided to airlift a planeload of NSG commandos to Pathankot to deal with the situation

A decision to establish the project could not be taken all these years because the state government wanted the Centre to pay for the land. On the other hand, the Union Government had repeatedly been asserting that it wanted it free of cost because the project was being established “in the interest of national security.”

The Punjab Government, on Thursday, while replying to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) communiqué of May 5 this year, wrote that it was willing to provide the land at Skoll village without taking any money. The state government has now asked the Centre to start the project at the earliest.

The demand to set up the project had first arisen in the aftermath of the January 2, 2016, attack on the Pathankot Air Force station in which four Jaish-e-Mohammad militants had sneaked in the compound using a drain at the rear to storm the station.

The MHA had decided to airlift a planeload of NSG commandos to Pathankot to deal with the situation. Seven persons, including an NSG commando, were killed before the security agency wiped out the four terrorists.

The NSG had to be flown in after suspicions arose that the militants might be carrying RDX with them.

In 2020, the Centre had again reiterated its demand to set up such a project.

In the recent past, the NSG had dashed down to Amritsar to deal with the low-intensity blasts near the Golden Temple in Amritsar. In another case, the NSG was called to handle the attacks on the intelligence wing of the state police in Mohali.

In 2017, former Gurdaspur MP Sunil Jakhar had raised the issue of setting up the NSG regional centre here. He had asked the Prime Minister’s Office to set up the centre in view of cross-border attacks. Jakhar had been quite vociferous in his demand. However, his interest waned after he lost the 2019 election.

Gurdaspur’s BJP MP Sunny Deol had also taken up the issue with the Centre.

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