Dutt said on Wednesday that the NSG was a specialised force and there were practical difficulties in having "small contingents at different places". Speaking at the elite force's training centre in Manesar near the Capital, Dutt said: "The NSG is a specialist force which needs a compact group for operations.
Even at the hubs, it requires land for regular drill practice, shooting ranges and practice for handling different situations. Having such a specialist unit for each state is very difficult in view of the available resources." Chidambaram had last month promised at the chief minister's conference that NSG hubs would be set up in all states.
In the wake of the 26/ 11 fiasco, when it took the NSG commandos more than seven hours to reach the terror attack sites in Mumbai, the Centre had announced to open four more hubs at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad.
Many states were miffed at the home ministry choice of cities for the regional hubs. These states, particularly Karnataka and Assam, conveyed to the Centre their displeasure at being ignored despite a high threat perception to Bengaluru and Guwahati. Chidambaram assured that many more NSG hubs would be created in due course of time.
The NSG is making all efforts to get the four hubs to be set up in the first phase going at the earliest for quick response in the event of a terror attack.
Dutt said these centres will have no more than 200- 250 commandos each.
He said: "The induction process for additional manpower for these four regional hubs has started and the men on deputation from the army and central paramilitary forces will start joining from this month. This will be followed by specialised training to make them thorough professionals." After the 26/ 11 attacks, there were also talks of dedicated aircraft for the NSG as the Mumbai operation was delayed mainly because the commandos had to wait quite some time for an aircraft to fly them to the city.
Dutt, however, said on Wednesday that the idea wasn't feasible because of the costs and logistics involved. "We will have to depend on the ARC or the BSF planes for our transport needs. The home ministry has, however, empowered us now to requisition a private aircraft to transport our troops in case of an emergency," he said.
There are, however, still some issues which the ministry needs to sort out soon. "The NSG director-general and inspector general have been empowered to requisition a private airline aircraft. But we might not have an IG- level officer at the new regional hubs. What do the commandoes do in case they need to fly out urgently?" Dutt asked.
To avoid a situation in future like 26/ 11, when the NSG commandos had to take a 45- minute road journey from Manesar to the Delhi airport, land has been acquired near airports of the cities where the new hubs will be located.