Terror alert in Gujarat: Security heightened, NSG teams on standby; raids in Kutch

March 6, 2016

Ahmedabad, Mar 6: Gujarat was on high alert on Sunday following intelligence inputs that terrorists have sneaked into the state, with raids being conducted at Kutch and other places, security beefed up at vital installations and sensitive areas and NSG teams on standby.

The leave of all police personnel, including officers, has been cancelled and the state government has increased security at all the main temples of the state for 'Maha Shivaratri' festival tomorrow.

A massive security operation has been launched and raids were conducted by a police team, led by South Kutch Superintendent of Police Makrand Chauhan, early this morning in Varnora village of Bhuj taluka in Kutch district bordering Pakistan, police sources said.

The Kutch police also raided Noorani Mahel hotel and Muslim Jamat Khana in Bhuj, they said.

"The state government received a serious information from central government on Saturday that terrorists have entered Gujarat. We held a meeting where it was discussed that all measures will be taken to ensure no untoward incident takes place," Gujarat Minister of State for Home Rajni Patel said.

With 'Maha Shivaratri' festival tomorrow, the state government has also increased security at all the main temples.

"Especially during Maha Shivratri, lakhs of pilgrims visit temples in Junagadh, Somnath and other temples. So we have issued high alert for security of these temples too," Patel said.

Two National Security Guard (NSG) teams comprising nearly 200 personnel have been sent from Delhi to Gujarat to meet any eventuality, official sources said.

Policemen were seen patrolling the highways since early morning. Security of all the Air Force and Army bases has also been ramped up.

"The Centre has offered all help and NSG task-force has arrived here which is currently being briefed about the various (vital and sensitive) locations," he said.

"We have alerted coastal as well as border police near Kutch to take all necessary steps to beef-up security. In Kutch, we have asked the local police to remain in co-ordination with Border Security Force (BSF)," he said.

"Till now, we have not found any suspicious person. However, whatever information is received by us is serious and we are taking all necessary steps about it," Patel said.

State Director General of Police P C Thakur, who issued orders late last night cancelling leave of all policemen, said they were prepared to deal with any situation.

"We are on high alert and prepared to deal with any situation. We have started combing operations across various locations. We have also sensitised places that see high rate of footfall," Thakur said.

"We are taking all precautions. Security across coastal areas and other vital installations has been increased. If required, NSG team will be deployed as per their protocol," he said.

On reports claiming that Pakistan alerted Indian authorities about the possible infiltration of terrorists in Gujarat, state Director General of Police (IB & CID) Pramod Kumar said the state Intelligence Bureau received information from the Central IB.

"We don't know anything about Pakistan's role in providing this information. We received this information from Central IB. I don't know anything more than that," said Kumar.

Tight vigil is being kept at railway stations and airports.

Notably, a Pakistani fishing boat was seized on Friday by a BSF patrol party after its occupants fled upon seeing the border security personnel in the Koteshwar creek area off the Kutch coast along the Indo-Pakistan border.

BSF officials had said that nothing suspicious was found in the boat.

Comments

Indians should stop fishing for the time being in the western coastal area so that Pakistani boats with terrorists can be identified easily....our fishermen should be compensated for taking off from work as they will have to feed their families too....

Real Terrorist are hiding in BJP or RSS headquarters.
Just an political publicity to attract voters towards them.
If there was real threat, then officials used to work and solves secretly but now a days these politicians make statement in media to show people about their actions for nothing.
Like film stars appears in reality show for the promotion of their films, now BJP Jumla Govt. is using same kind of trend in different way.

go to hell !!! your type of people just dont want to c the growing india,

Good plan to retain image from Rohit Vemula and JNU row.... Plan to catch some beared muslims.........!!! Just be alert and wait for some unexpected feku operation...

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Average age of school children picking up drugs, smoking habit in 10 Indian cities around 13 years!

News Network

December 13,2025

New Delhi: School-going children are picking up drug and smoking habits and engaging in consumption of alcohol, with the average age of introduction to such harmful substances found to be around 13 years, suggesting a need for earlier interventions as early as primary school, a multi-city survey by AIIMS-Delhi said.

The findings also showed substance use increased in higher grades, with grade XI/XII students two times more likely to report use of substances when compared with grade VIII students. This emphasised the importance of continued prevention and intervention through middle and high school.

The study led by Dr Anju Dhawan of AIIMS's National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, published in the National Medical Journal of India this month, looks at adolescent substance use across diverse regions.

The survey included 5,920 students from classes 8, 9, 11 and 12 in urban government, private and rural schools across 10 cities -- Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Delhi, Dibrugarh, Hyderabad, Imphal, Jammu, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Ranchi. The data were collected between May 2018 and June 2019.

The average age of initiation for any substance was 12.9 (2.8) years. It was lowest for inhalants (11.3 years) followed by heroin (12.3 years) and opioid pharmaceuticals (without prescription; 12.5 years).

Overall, 15.1 per cent of participants reported lifetime use, 10.3 per cent reported past year use, and 7.2 per cent reported use in the past month of any substance, the study found.

The most common substances used in the past year, after tobacco (4 per cent) and alcohol (3.8 per cent), were opioids (2.8 per cent), followed by cannabis (2 per cent) and inhalants (1.9 per cent). Use of non-prescribed pharmaceutical opioids was most common among opioid users (90.2 per cent).

On being asked, 'Do you think this substance is easily available for a person of your age' separately for each substance category, nearly half the students (46.3 per cent) endorsed that tobacco products and more than one-third of the students (36.5 per cent) agreed that a person of their age can easily procure alcohol products.

Similarly, for Bhang (21.9 per cent), ganja/charas (16.1 per cent), inhalants (15.2 per cent), sedatives (13.7 per cent), opium and heroin (10 per cent each), the students endorsed that these can be easily procured.

About 95 per cent of the children, irrespective of their grade, agreed with the statement that 'drug use is harmful'.

The rates of substance use (any) among boys were significantly higher than those of girls for substance use (ever), use in the past year and use in the past 30 days. Compared to grade VIII students, grade IX students were more likely, and grade XI/XII students were twice as likely to have used any substance (ever).

The likelihood of past-year use of any substance was also higher for grade IX students and for grade XI/XII students as compared to grade VIII students.

About 40 per cent of students mentioned that they had a family member who used tobacco or alcohol each. The use of cannabis (any product) and opioid (any product) by a family member was reported by 8.2 per cent and 3.9 per cent of students, respectively, while the use of other substances, such as inhalants/sedatives by family was 2-3 per cent, the study found.

A relatively smaller percentage of students reported use of tobacco or alcohol among peers as compared to among family members, while a higher percentage reported inhalants, sedatives, cannabis or opioid use among peers.

Children using substances (past year) compared to non-users reported significantly higher any substance use by their family members and peers.

There were 25.7 per cent students who replied 'yes' to the question 'conflicts/fights often occur in your family'. Most students also replied affirmatively to 'family members are aware of how their time is being spent' and 'damily members are aware of with whom they spend their time'.

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