Specially trained commandos for oil company in Barmer

JODHPUR: Three years after Babbar Khalsa operative Jag Mohan Singh was found conducting a recce at a site of RajWest power plant in Barmer, a group of 120 specially trained commandos will be deployed at the site of Cairn India, which is exploring crude oil in Barmer, as a pre-emptive step to protect its oil fields and structural set up from any terrorist activity.
This is the first time these specially trained commandos will be deployed in vital installations in the state.
Rajasthan police training Centre (RPTC) trained these commandos with advance weaponry techniques to thwart any terrorist attack. The valedictory function of these 120 commandos attended by DG (Homeguard) K L Bairwa was held on Friday.
Cairn India had forwarded a request to the government to deploy specially trained commandos at its oil fields in Barmer. Acting on the request, the government picked 120 personnel from the Border Homeguard already deployed on the western desert border for the commando training. "These personnel were selected considering their ability to adjust in the harsh desert environment and their knowledge about the region and gave RPTC the responsibility to train them," RPTC commandant Sawai Singh Godara said.
The company financed the training at the RPTC which started from April 30. "During the two-month training, these commandos have been imparted advanced skills on anti-terrorist activities and rescue operations under supervision of an officer of the rank of a major general," Godara said.
Currently, there is only a two-tier security arrangement at the oil fields of Cairn India handled by personnel of the home guards and a private security agency. They carry out regular patrolling at the site along with police which looks after the law and order situation. But these forces are not trained to handle any terrorist attack. "These commandos will be equipped with advanced weaponry, latest equipment and technical know-how, which will be helpful even in the abrupt need on the border as a support system of the armed forces," one of the trainers said.
"It's a win-win situation for both the government, which cannot afford to spend a heavy amount on strengthening its forces, and for the corporate, which have the money but are in need of a dedicated government force to protect their installations,", police source said.
Three years ago, the SOG had a close shave with Jag Mohan Singh, an operative of the Babbar Khalsa terrorist outfit, when he was coming to Barmer for a recce and to obtain a consignment of RDX on the instructions of Paramjit Singh Pamma (a top leader of Babbar Khalsa International) from London, who was later caught by London police in July 2010. Jag Mohan Singh was arrested by the Punjab Police in September 2009, a few days after his Barmer recce.