IPS officer Binita Thakur was today appointed as Director of NATGRID, a robust intelligence gathering mechanism set up to track any terror suspect and incident.
Thakur, a 1996-batch IPS officer of Rajasthan cadre, was selected for appointment as Director in the NATGRID under the Home Ministry, an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training said.
She has been appointed for the balance period of her central deputation which ends on December 17, 2016, it said.
Thakur was recently replaced by IAS officer M Imkongla Jamir as Private Secretary to Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani. She was put on compulsory wait in July in Department of Higher Education.
She would be reporting to Secretary (Internal Security) Ashok Prasad.
As per the Home Ministry's proposal, the NATGRID, which is still in nascent stage, in different phases will connect data providing organisations and users besides developing a legal structure through which information can be accessed by the law enforcement agencies.
In the first phase, 10 user agencies and 21 service providers will be connected, while in later phases about 950 additional organisations will be connected and another over 1,000 organisations in the subsequent years.
These data sources include records related to immigration entry and exit, banking and financial transactions and telecommunications.
The agencies include the Intelligence Bureau, local police and revenue and customs departments.
While the clearance for Rs 3,400 crore project from the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) came in 2011, execution of the project slowed down after the exit of Home Minister P Chidambaram in July 2012.
There are around 70 personnel, drawn from both the government and private sectors, in NATGRID.
