Police control room in Sakchi that will house the bomb squad. File picture

Jamshedpur, Oct. 6: By next week, the East Singhbhum district police will be armed with another weapon to fight the Naxalites — a full-fledged bomb disposal squad.

The squad, comprising six trained police personnel, will be inducted next week. It will not only render its services in East Singhbhum, but also in the neighbouring districts of West Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan.

Operating under supervision of the district superintendent of police, the squad will have its office at the police control room in Sakchi.

East Singhbhum district superintendent of police (SP) Naveen Kumar Singh said: “The bomb disposal squad is almost ready and it will be inducted in the district police next week. At present, it will have six personnel. The number will be increased according to necessity. The squad members have been trained to handle any kind of bomb.”

According to Singh, the squad members would be equipped with special explosive resistant jackets and other necessary gadgets. Six squad members have been drawn from East Singhbhum police, while two are from Ranchi. They underwent a three-month training at NSG Academy at Manesar in Haryana. Jharkhand Jaguar had organised the training.

The men in uniform often come across landmines and can bombs in Naxalite-affected areas of Ghatshila and Patamda in East Singhbhum and Saranda and Goelkera of West Singhbhum.

But in the absence of a trained bomb disposal squad, live bombs are kept in safe custody for days. “We have to either summon experts from CRPF or the state capital for detonating the bombs. But now, we will no longer have to depend on any outsider,” the SP said.