Bangalore: The Union Government's most ambitious project, the National Intelligence Grid (Natgrid), moved towards fruition with Union home minister SusÂhilkumar Shinde unveiling the foundation stone for the Rs 100 crore ‘Disaster Recovery Centre and Secondary office’ in Bangalore on Saturday.
The proposed facility would function as a back-up to the main centre which would come up in New Delhi. “In the eventuality of any attack like the one on 26/11, then we can immediately fall back on the Bangalore’s office,” Shinde told media persons here.
The Rs. 1000-crore Natgrid project envisages a link between databases of intelligence agencies and organisations providing information in order to enhance counter-terror capabilities. “We will be joining the handful of countries in the world like the USA, which has such capabilities,” Shinde added.
He said the proposed facility would gather intelligence inputs from more than 22 sources including the agencies like Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Defence and Intelligence Bureau in order to deal with 26/11 type of situations. Besides, the project would also help nearly 10-11 departments.
“For instance, the counterfeit currency racket can be monitored regularly,” the minister added. According to him, the information and indicator of possible 26/11 type attacks were present in separate part of the system and there was no technological framework to help the agencies to put these pieces together to develop action.
“The Natgrid framework will use the cutting edge technology to strengthen the intelligence and law enforcement agency’s ability to swiftly connect different piece of information together that could preempt attacks or find the perpetrators,” he explained. The home minister appealed to IT professionals in the city to join the Natgrid team and build a system for national security.
