26/11 report points loopholes in police response

Mumbai: The Ram Pradhan Committee report on Mumbai Police's response to 26/11 terror strikes was partly tabled in Maharashtra Assembly on Tuesday.

Maharashtra government refused to submit the entire report, calling it sensitive information that relates to matters that are subjudice. But there are many loopholes in the report and Action Taken Report.

The report says that lessons from the Mumbai train bombings were simply not imbibed and Standard Operating Procedures put into place in 2006 remained on paper.

The report cites a complete collapse of coordination between city, state and national security agencies while top officers reacted individually since there was no proper command centre and the Home Department was ineffective.

Even the Quick Response Team of Mumbai Police failed to act as it had no training to tackle such terror strikes.

Pradhan Committee report also cites a shortage of weapons and ammunition with the Mumbai Police and says police were not adequately trained to use AK-47s because of lack of ammunition.

The report also criticises the lack of proper coastal security cover and intelligence.

Heated discussions were held on Monday and Tuesday on the report of the Ram Pradhan Committee that investigated the 26/11 terror attacks with some ministers also proposing another panel to study it and others questioning why only former Mumbai Police commissioner Hasan Gafoor had been singled out for transfer.

The report was discussed threadbare at the Cabinet meeting on Monday evening.

Many state ministers have said that the report had clearly spoken of "intelligence failure" and questioned the appointment of D Shivananandan, commissioner of the State Intelligence Department at the time of the terror attacks, as city police chief.

The Opposition also blamed the government for avoiding a discussion and said that was why the report was only tabled on the last day of the current session of the Assembly.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan defended Gafoor, who has been blamed by the 26/11 report.

“(I) don’t think that there was any failure from the part of Mumbai Police commissioner. There are some parts of the Pradhan report which pertain to Kasab's trial. Sharing such sensitive information could adversely affect the course of the trial. We are not withholding any other information,” said Chavan.

After the report was submitted last fortnight, the government had set up a two-member committee comprising Chief Secretary Johny Joseph and Additional Chief Secretary (home) Chandra Iyengar to prepare an action taken report (ATR).