The National Security Guard was raised in 1984 with the mandate of counter-terrorism and anti-hijack duties

New Delhi: The Director-General of the National Security Guard (NSG) has denied any knowledge of a proposal to merge the country’s elite force with the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

Reacting to a question, DG Anup Kumar Singh said the NSG is one of the best forces in the world and expressed hope that it will stay as an independent force.

“Not aware of any such thing. NSG is an elite agency of our nation. It's our federal contingency force and holds the position as one of the best forces in the world. It has its own important structure and I hope it will continue with its current form,” Singh said.

From Counter-Terror To VVIP Duties

It may be noted here that the National Security Guard was raised in 1984 with the mandate of counter-terrorism and anti-hijack duties. Its website says:

NSG is a Federal Contingency World Class Zero Error Force to deal with anti-terrorist activities in all its manifestation. The NSG is a Force specially equipped and trained to deal with specific situations and is, therefore, to be used only in exceptional circumstances to thwart serious acts of terrorism.”

However, over the years, it was allocated work of securing the country's VVIPs by providing them Z+ security.

But last year, the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to remove the NSG from the duty of protecting VIPs and VVIPs, including the Gandhis.

Justifying the move, the government had said that it wanted the Black Cat commandos to go back to their original tack of handling counter-terrorism operations.