Patna, July 9: The cabinet today gave its nod to the creation of an anti-terrorist squad (ATS) in the state, almost four-and-a-half years after the police headquarters submitted the proposal to the state government.

The nod comes in the wake of the serial bomb explosions in Bodhgaya on July 7, in which two monks were injured. The proposal had been gathering dust in the home department since January 2009.

Cabinet department secretary Brajesh Mehrotra said: “The ATS will consist of 344 personnel and the state government will bear Rs 15.3 crore per year on the squad.” The force would comprise one inspector-general of police, two deputy inspectors-general of police rank officials, one superintendent of police (SP), six deputy superintendents of police (DSPs), 16 inspectors, 38 sub-inspectors, 194 constables and others.

According to sources, a detailed proposal had been submitted to the home department in January 2009 by then inspector-general of police (operations) S.K. Bhardwaj for the creation of a specialised ATS at the police headquarters to deal with cases of organised crime, including terrorist related incidents.

Sources attributed the reason for the delay to the soft attitude of the state government towards the members of a particular community.

Sources added that the police headquarters proposed setting up of an ATS soon after the serial bombing and shooting in Mumbai on November 26, 2008, popularly known as 26/11 attacks. “It took almost a month for senior police officials to prepare a report submit it to the government,” said Bhardwaj, who is at present posted as additional director-general of police (law and order).

A senior IPS officer said the 26/11 attacks, in which Pakistan-based terrorists killed around 200 people, had forced the Centre to caution the state governments facing insurgency and organised crime, to create ATS under their jurisdiction.

Home department principal secretary Amir Subhani said the state government issued a notification with regard to creation of a separate anti-terrorist squad police station on April 9, 2013. Subhani said: “The ATS will become operational in Bihar as soon as possible.”

He, however, didn't give any timeframe. “The police station to be set up in Patna would have its jurisdiction across the state,” he added.

According to the notification, an officer below the rank of the DSP would be the in-charge of the ATS police station.

“This police station will investigate only those cases, which will be taken over by the anti-terrorist squad,” the home department’s notification said.

The delay in implementing the creation of the squad has not gone down well with opposition parties, which made a hue and cry over the attack on the Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya, around 130km south of Patna.

A former minister and the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Nand Kishore Yadav, said the government ought to accelerate the process of setting up the ATS in the aftermath of the Bodhgaya blasts. “The Bodhgaya incident seems to be the first incident of terrorist attack in Bihar,” he said.

On the inordinate delay in formation of the ATS, Subhani said the process had started much earlier.

“It is just about the creation of posts. Once the posts are sanctioned, the officials and the support staff would be posted there,” he added.