A man thanks an NSG commando with a rose in Mumbai on Saturday. (AP)

New Delhi, Nov. 29: Calcutta and all other metros will have commandos like the NSG Black Cats, a top bureaucrat said today as the home ministry girded up against accusations of “delay” in sending the elite force to besieged Mumbai.

“Commandos like the NSG” will be positioned in Calcutta, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi besides “big” states, special secretary (internal security) M.L. Kumawat said.

For now, NSG companies could be sent to these places immediately, sources added.

Kumawat said states’ own forces would be trained at the NSG headquarters and at central police academies to create a force as good as the National Security Guard, who finally ended the rampage by gunmen who terrorised Mumbai for three days.

But the home ministry came under fire for sending the elite commandos late and an annoyed Maharashtra government said the “delay” was inexplicable. The terrorists struck late on Wednesday but the commandos reached Mumbai only on Thursday morning and several lives had been lost by then.