chief secretary and RD Pradhan as the government was refusing to make the Pradhan report on 26/11 Mumbai attack public even though the media had obtained copies of it.
"If the government refuses to discuss the report in the House during the winter session starting Tuesday, the leader of opposition Eknath Khadse would table the Pradhan committee report in the assembly," he said on Saturday, adding that he too had obtained a copy of the 90-page report.
Fadnavis alleged that government had refused to table the report in the assembly as it would have completely exposed the mishandling of the 26/11 attack and the weaknesses in the police department. "The government has not learnt any lessons from the attack. It is handling the incident purely from a political viewpoint. What is the harm in admitting that a few lapses had occurred. Is their prestige more important than the nation's security?"
The South-West Nagpur MLA said that Pradhan had used one language in the report and another in the recommendations. The two were also contradictory on many aspects, he claimed. "The report has come down heavily on government and police but the recommendations are mild. In the report, Pradhan states that had intelligence been received by Mumbai police on time the magnitude of tragedy would have been lesser but in the recommendation part it states that intelligence was received."
The MLA demanded that a judicial enquiry or an enquiry under Commission of Enquiries Act must be done into the incident because it has become clear that the only reason the government appointed the Pradhan committee was to cover up its glaring lapses. Secondly, no central government personnel had been questioned by Pradhan and hence the report was incomplete.
Fadnavis said that even though the government had tried its best to cover up, its lapses became evident on going through the report. Pradhan states that six intelligence reports were received that an attack was imminent through the sea and that the hotels Taj, Oberoi and CST were the targets. "However, additional chief secretary (home) and the chief secretary told Pradhan that they had not received any intelligence from centre," he said.
On the other hand, the director general of police provided Pradhan with copies of the intelligence reports that were sent to the two officers. Pradhan has revealed a shocking practice that such high level communications are processed by desk officers in Mantralaya and hence do not reach the secretaries. Pradhan has recommended that the state intelligence chief should be appointed nodal officer for ensuring proper flow of reports.
As per the report, the cops had antiquated rifles. The police department had proposed to the government to provide modern weapons to them in December 2007. The government just gave in-principle agreement to this proposal in June 2008. "Had the government taken the police's proposal seriously Mumbai cops would have been equipped with modern arms," Fadnavis said.
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