Madhya Pradesh jail guards to get training at NSG's centre

Bhopal: Alarmed after Bhopal jailbreak by SIMI operatives last year, the Madhya Pradesh jail department has decided to send its guards for rigorous commando training to a centre of NSG, India's premier counter-terrorism outfit.

"We have sent the first batch of 21 jail guards to National Security Guard (NSG) training centre for the special commando training.

 More guards would be given this training in future," MP's Director General (Jails) Sanjay Choudhary told PTI today.

"The department has planned to provide NSG training to 50 jail guards," he said.

Choudhary said the trained guards would be posted in different jails of the state, as per the requirement.

Another jail department official said the guards would undergo a three-month rigorous training at the NSG's centre in Manesar, Haryana.

The decision to train the guards was taken in the wake of Bhopal jailbreak incident and to enhance the security of the prisons.

"The special training to jail guards would boost the security of the jails. Initially, they would be posted in central jails. These guards were selected for training on the basis of their age and fitness," he said.

On the intervening night of October 30-31 last year, eight operatives of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) had escaped killing a jail guard of Bhopal's Central Jail. 

The operatives, however, were gunned down within hours at a village, located about 18 kms from the jail.

The state government has taken a slew of measures to prevent such incidents in future, including banning of outside food and shifting of jails from dense areas of the cities.