Union Home Minister P Chidambaram inaugurated Training Facilities NSG’s Chennai Hub

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on 17 December 2011 inaugurated several facilities, including a new administrative block and training facilities exclusively designed for National Security Guard’s (NSG) Chennai hub.  National Security Guard’s (NSG) Chennai hub was formed in 2009.

National Security Guard (NSG) commandos will now be trained in this exclusive, 69-acre facility sandwiched between forests and hillocks at Nerkundram off the Vandalur-Kelambakkam Road, about 30 km from Chennai. the commandos were untill now housed in a temporary unit in Ashok Nagar.

Steps have been taken to ensure that the 241 commandos trained for anti-terror strikes and anti-hijack operations are ready for deployment within a few minutes of receiving a request.

The hub has been designed to immediately mount a counter attack on the occasion of an attack or a hijack. The unit members are to reach the airport or the Tambaram air force station within 20-40 minutes of a terror strike being reported to board a plane.

Machine guns, rocket launchers, night vision cameras, ammunition and other equipment had been provided to the commandos who will stay at the hub for five years before returning to their parent force. A fresh team will be brought in every five years.

After the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror strikes, a decision to set up regional NSG hubs at Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai was taken on 30 June 2009. Of these, the Kolkata and Hyderabad hubs will be upgraded into bigger facilities to cater to the eastern and southern regions.

A regional centre is also to be established at Hyderabad from where commandos can be moved for counter-terror operations in South India. The Hyderabad centre will be on the lines of the NSG's Manesar facility in Delhi.