Mumbai attacks reveal deficiencies in law enforcement: Tata

Mumbai, Nov 30 (PTI) The terror attacks in Mumbai
revealed deficiencies in law enforcement, especially in the
areas of crisis response and management, Ratan Tata, owner of
the Taj hotel, which bore the brunt of the carnage, has said.

He also said the hotel had temporarily increased
security after being warned of a possible terror attack. But,
he said, those measures, which were eased shortly before the
terror strikes, could not have prevented gunmen from entering
the hotel.

Tata said the terrorists had done a "lot of pre-
planning" and that "they seemed to know (the hotel) in the
night and in the daytime".

On deficiencies in law enforcement, he said, "we were
getting the cooperation that they (authorities) could give us,
but the infrastructure was woefully poor".

As an example, the Tata Group Chairman said it took
three hours for firefighters to get water to the Taj after a
blaze broke out in the oldest part of the 105-year-old
building.

"We had people who died being shot through
bullet-proof vests", he told CNN.

Tata said that not even the army or commandos who
ultimately took over the offensive were prepared for the level
of organisation and execution that the attackers seemed to
have put into their plan.

"They seemed to know (the hotel) in the night or in
the daytime," he said referring the terrorists. "They seemed
to have planned their moves quite well, and there seem to have
been a lot of pre-planning".

On the issue of the warning about a possible terror
attack, Tata said, "If I look at what we had ... it could not
have stopped what took place.

"It's ironic that we did have such a warning, and we did
have some measures," Tata said, without elaborating on the
warning or when security measures were enacted.

"People couldn't park their cars in the portico, where
you had to go through a metal detector," according to the
excerpt's of the interview posted on CNN's website.

However, Tata said the attackers did not enter through
the entrance that has a metal detector. Instead, they came in
a back entrance, he said.

"They knew what they were doing, and they did not go
through the front. All of our arrangements are in the front,"
he said.

"They planned everything," he said of the attackers. "I
believe the first thing they did, they shot a sniffer dog and
his handler. They went through the kitchen."

Tata said the attacks underscored the need for law
enforcement to develop infrastructure for crisis management,
even if it meant seeking outside expertise for training,
equipment and strategic operations.

"We've been very complacent, because we've really not had
this kind of terrorism inflicted upon us," he said. "We should
not stand on ceremony to hold back. We should go to the best
place possible to get expertise."

Tata was hopeful that the attacks would unite Indians
behind a common goal of preventing a similar tragedy,
according to the website.

"Rather than have us succumb to this kind of terror, what
it has done is given us a resolve that nobody can do this to
us," he said.

"We're indignant, but we're not scared. If there's a
view that this has pulled us down, I think it will unite the
country that much more," Tata said.

He said he derived those sentiments from members of his
staff, who have pledged to stand behind him and restore the
Taj to its former grandeur.

"The general manager lost his whole family in one of
the fires in the building," Tata said. "I went up to him today
and I told him how sorry I was, and he said, 'Sir, we are
going to beat this. We are going to build this Taj back into
what it was. We're standing with you. We will not let this
event take us down.'"

Tata further said, "And that is the feeling that they
have, and I have a feeling that that's pretty much echoed
throughout the country." PTI SC
PMR