Click to play videoMumbai: Mumbai's first tryst with terror was when the city was still called Bombay. On March 12, 1993 the financial capital of India was rocked by 13 bomb blasts in which at least 200 people were killed and over 800 others injured. Since then the city has been targetted by terrorists thrice.
Each time the lacunae have been identified, a slew of measures announced but in each of those cases the implementation has been disappointing.
For the bomb blasts in 1993 tons of RDX was brought into the city through the sea and then too major landmarks were targetted but even 15 years later, the coastlines are still not secure.
Former commissioner of Mumbai Police and a prominent Mumbaikar Julio Ribeiro is angry about the security lapses.
"They become complacent, not just the politicians but everyone concerned with the implementation of the plans. So it's never done," says Ribeiro.
It's a story that one hears over and over again.
After the 1993 serial blasts, Indian Navy hired fishing trawlers to patrol the coast and the state government was supposed to take over in a couple of years but that never happened.
There are 27 departments to take care of maritime security, but hardly any co-ordination between them.
The facts get even more damning. Colonel (retired) Mahendra Pratap Choudhary, who trained the first lot of National Security Guard commandos in the country, was roped in to put up a team of Mumbai Police commandos in 1993 but the unit was disbanded in 2001
A Quick Response Team was formed after the 2003 Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar blasts, but that too is dysfunctional.
After the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai local trains on July 11, 2006, a separate investigation committee to follow the money trail of terror was initiated. This also fell through.
"If you want modern equipments, better radio sets, interception equipments and training then it will take time, at least a year, maybe more. But by that time, everything dies down," says Colonel (retired) Choudhary.
Also routine anti-terror drills also remain only on paper.
If a city of nearly 15 million and a coastline of 7000 kms is to be protected, then the chalta hai (everything is OK) attitude needs to go.
The questions are have our politicians and police forces realised that?
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