NEW DELHI: Delhi Police’s anti-terror Parakram vans are facing a serious crunch of weapons. Manned by police commandos specially trained in anti-terror operations by the National Security Guard (NSG), they don’t have enough AK-47 assault rifles to deal with any terror activity in the national capital.
When the Parakram vans were launched in May by Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik, the commandos were armed with AK-47s sourced from various battalions. The weapons have been taken back and have been replaced by Israeli MP5 automatic rifles.
“Only seven AK-47s are available with the unit (Parakram vans) whereas we are in the need of 42 numbers,” says an official communication of Delhi Police accessed by The Sunday Standard. “The unit was in the need of 42 AK-47 rifles… Necessary approval of competent authority for allotting 35 more AK-47 rifles to this unit permanently may kindly be obtained.”
For the launch of the Parakram vans, some units of Delhi Police gave them 42 AK-47s on a temporary basis, and subsequently took back 35. “We have asked other units to hand over AK-47s to Parakram vans, but in vain. The commandos have got MP5 guns as a replacement, which is not preferable,” a senior official of Delhi Police’s Provisioning and Logistic said.
Each Parakram van is manned by three commandos and a driver, who will be armed with a small calibre firearm such as a pistol. All four are trained by the NSG in offensive/evasive driving with a 360-degree turning and firing in mobile mode. All commandos were to be armed with high fire power AK-47s.
In the light of recent terror incidents across the globe, Delhi Police decided to add an anti-terror backup in Delhi by inducting Parakram Commando Vehicles in its PCR Unit.
On Guard
District Depoloyed Vans
New Delhi 17
North 8
Central 5
South 5
South East 5
East 1
West 1
The commandos’ AK-47s have been taken back and they have been given the israeli MP-5 automatic weapons