New Delhi, Feb 8 : Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai informed the Central government recently sanctioned six new branch offices for the National Investigation Agency (NIA), including one in Bengaluru. The Minister made the statement in Lok Sabha in response to the question asked by BJP MP Tejasvi Surya over setting up a permanent NIA office in Bengaluru. The Karnataka MP asked whether the government is considering setting up a NIA permanent house in Bengaluru. The details of the resources and funds that will be made available for it and the total number of NIA permanent houses in the country and the cities they are located in. The minister replied that in pursuance of the policy of “Zero Tolerance” towards terrorism, the Centre has strengthened the institutional framework and enhanced capacity of agencies concerned which include provision of adequate funds. On January 5, this year, the government sanctioned six new branch offices, including at Bengaluru for NIA. Around 52 posts have been sanctioned for its newly created branch office at Bengaluru. With the sanction of six more branches, NIA has 18 branch offices including headquarters at New Delhi, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Imphal, Kochi, Chennai, Lucknow, Kolkata, Jammu, Raipur, Chandigarh, Ranchi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Patna, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Bhubaneswar.(UNI)