UP govt to set up new ATS Commando Centre at Deoband & 4 locations amid 'Taliban savagery'

Cracking down on terror, the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday announced that it will be opening an Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) Commando Centre in Deoband. Taking to Twitter, CM Yogi Adityanath's media adviser Shalabh Mani Tripathi, said, " Amidst the barbarism of Taliban, Yogi ji has decided to open ATS commando Centre in Deoband". The government has allotted 2000 sq m for the construction of the new ATS Centre at Deoband, which will be in addition to the existing ATS centre in Lucknow.

UP Govt to set up new ATS Commando Centre at Deoband

Explaining the move, UP ADG (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said, "In order to further strengthen the ATS and the Special Task Force (STF) and make them more effective, the UP government is making attempts and required grants are being provided. The land has been identified and acquired by the ATS at several places, including Meerut, Indo-Nepal border, Bahraich, Shravasti, the upcoming Jevar Airport, Deoband in Saharanpur and other places. These places are important and sensitive from an operation angle”.

He added, "Wherever needed, we will set up a training centre and from those areas, we will deploy our normal unit. In Deoband, 2000 sq m land has been allotted to ATS by the government and we will raise our unit soon there. Deoband is on the Uttaranchal and Haryana border and it will help us increase our depth, presence and operation efficiency in Western UP”.

Dismissing the proclamation, a Congress MLC said, "The government has made this announcement several times. Several times, they said that they will set up a women's police station and a new ATS office. But as of date, no new police station has come up, neither has any ATS office come up. The only thing which has risen is violence against women and the death of democracy in elections".

Recently, the UP ATS arrested three people including gangster Noor Islam aka Mohammed Noor, while they were trying to illegally smuggle one man and two women, who as per the initial investigation, were purportedly minors. The accused were nabbed at Ghaziabad while they were travelling through a train that was going to Delhi with Bangladeshi Rohingya refugees. The ATS team has in total apprehended six people and an investigation against them is going on to ascertain full information.