Terror is revisiting Karnataka. Security agencies are screaming from roof tops that the south Indian state is increasingly becoming a hub for terror activities, but is anyone listening?

Questions are being raised as to how equipped Karnataka is to handle terror, but the fact remains that a proposal to set up an Anti Terrorist Commando Force still remains a proposal.

As per the proposal that was made in the Karnataka budget of 2003, the ATCF would have to exclusively deal with terror operations. The force was to be based in Bangalore and would be pressed into service in any part of the state in case of a terror attack.

Ever since the proposal was mooted, a lot has happened in the state of Karnataka. Several militants have been arrested, sleeper cells were set up and not to forget the deadly IISC attack in December 2005.

Ever since 2003, when the proposal was made, there has been some trouble or the other in setting up the ATCF. Initially, it was decided that men from the Karnataka State Reserve Police would raise the force of 120 personnel from the KSRP.

However, the government took a back seat when the KSRP sought for certain privileges for the men who would be joining the force. The KSRP sought certain incentives required to motivate its men to join the force, as it was a high risk job.

The KSRP had sought for 50 per cent hike in the salaries of those men joining the force. Besides this, additional insurance cover was also sought. The argument that was advanced by the KSRP was that when the government plans to raise a force on the lines of the National Security Guards or the Special Protection Group, it should be ready to spend more from its exchequer.

For some reason or the other the government never approved the proposal and till date, it remains on paper. However, what the government promptly did was talk about the setting up of such a force every time the security of the state was compromised. Once matters settled down, it all vanished into thin air.

Senior police officials told rediff.com that setting up of such a force is absolutely necessary taking into consideration the present scenario. There is a huge threat looming large over the state.

At present, the state is not equipped enough to handle a terror strike. In case of any such strike a request has to be made to the Union Government to send in the NSG. However, there could be a delay in the NSG reaching Karnataka by which time, the damage would have doubled.

There have been various reasons cited for the delay in setting up such a force. Although publicly the government says that too much money is being sought for setting up the force, there were also a section of legislators who opposed this proposal outright. They feel that it may lead to misuse of powers and innocent persons may be targeted in the name of investigation.