Sir , The Karnataka Government should revamp the intelligence department to effectively deal with an increasing number of major crimes like terrorist activities, communal and street violence at several major urban centers, coastal towns and places of important economic installations.

Today terrorism has entered urban centers of economic importance like Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi.

With India’s strong economic growth, our important economic installations like power stations, transmission lines, dams, airports, seaports, railways, refineries, IT campuses, defence, research institutions etc need to be protected.

These are our economic lifelines, hence it is necessary to have a strong intelligence network to thwart any such crime on intelligence feedback. Harm to these installations will cause a major blow to the country’s economy.

Today, the level of intelligence is poor. Hence dedicated officers with interest in intelligence should be posted to infuse dynamism and professionalism as due to long neglect, the intelligence department has become a dumping ground for unwilling officers as they are reluctant to serve here where one is required to keep a low profile and where even successes are kept under cover.

Also increased budget, salaries, promotional avenues, manpower, better training, vehicle's, hitch communication gadgeteers, IT database, coordination with districts, other state policies and with Central agencies and cultivating human intelligence for assimilating and analysing information to combat terrorism will give desired results.

Sir — After the ordeal of 26/11, counter-terrorism measures had been adopted and intelligence systems strengthened. But the blast in Varanasi is a grim reminder of the fact that our intelligence department still has serious shortcomings. Effective intelligence gathering is essential for preventing terror strikes.

The country’s intelligence wing seems to have been neglected, and perhaps its officers have little incentive to work in it. They are required to keep a low profile and even their successes are kept largely under wraps.

The government must commit itself to building an effective and efficient system of intelligence. To begin with, dedicated officers should be appointed. A spirit of dynamism and professionalism must be infused in the ranks of the country’s intelligence personnel.

The intelligence services have dealt with even greater challenges in the past. In the present crisis, there is no reason why it cannot rise to combat terrorism at the urban centres.

India’s Intelligence still needs improvement. It is really horrifying to see the blast at Pune which has totally exposed lack of preparedness in the intelligence network of the city that is the prime education and emerging IT hub.

What is more agonizing is that security agencies didn’t learn a lesson from Mumbai 26/11 attack which should have been an eye opener. Though the government has been trying to improve security network by buying large quantities of hi-tech hardware for police across country, it has lagged in improving intelligence network. There is lack of proper coordination across the country between various state and central security agencies. Need of the hour is to further improve and make intelligence agencies strong and effective to carry out counter-terrorism activities by placing dedicated police officers with interest in intelligence to infuse professionalism.

Successive governments have neglected the intelligence department which has become the dumping ground for unwilling officers, as here one is required to keep a low profile.

Sir—This refers to the article, “Pune terror alert ignored” by Shashi Shekhar (February 15). It is unfortunate that despite many indications of jihadi"s planning to attack Pune in Maharashtra, the German Bakery blast took place. This clearly shows that we need to bring about radical improvement in our intelligence services.

There have been efforts to improve the internal security system but given the spread of the terror network, we need to ensure proper coordination between State and Central security agencies across country so that such tragedies can be prevented.

Sir—This refers to the article, “Pune terror alert ignored” by Shashi Shekhar (February 15). It is unfortunate that despite many indications of jihadi"s planning to attack Pune in Maharashtra, the German Bakery blast took place. This clearly shows that we need to bring about radical improvement in our intelligence services.

There have been efforts to improve the internal security system but given the spread of the terror network, we need to ensure proper coordination between State and Central security agencies across country so that such tragedies can be prevented.