A policeman and a Taj employee hoist the national flag outside the hotel on Sunday. (AP)

Mumbai, Nov. 30 (PTI): The attack on Mumbai has revealed deficiencies in law enforcement, especially in the areas of crisis response and management, Ratan Tata has said.

Tata, who owns the Taj Mahal hotel that bore the brunt of the terror strike, also said the hotel had been warned of a possible attack and had increased security.

But those measures, which CNN said appeared to have been relaxed before the attack on Wednesday, could not have helped because those were at the front while the gunmen entered the hotel from the kitchen, he said.

“We were getting the co-operation that they (authorities) could give us, but the infrastructure was woefully poor,” Tata said.

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 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.

“There seems to be no doubt that they knew their way around the hotel,” he said.

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 the 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.”