Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to waive off charges towards deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) in the state.
Naveen in the letter requested Modi to direct the Ministry of Home Affairs to waive off Rs 4,561.23 crore towards deployment charges of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) up to October 1, 2020 in the state.
Earlier, Patnaik had written a letter to the Centre June 10, 2015 urging him to reconsider charging Odisha Government for the deployment of CAPFs in Maoist-infested areas of the state.
In response, the then Union Home Minister had intimated August 25, 2015 that there had been no change in the extant policy of the Government as approved earlier by the Cabinet Committee on Security. As such, all States except the few Special Category States, viz., North-East, J&K and HP, are required to bear full charges for deployment of CAPFs in their states. Further, he had intimated that due to overall constraint of resources, it was not feasible to exempt the State Government from payment of deployment charges.
Stating Left Wing Extremism as a national issue, Naveen said in his letter that the issue is a grave internal security threat to the integrity of the nation. This major challenge has to be addressed jointly by both the Government of India and the Government of Odisha.
“Besides, the Government of Odisha has been proactive in spending from its scanty resources in creating and deploying security forces even amidst its tight fiscal situation. Around 15 Battalions of state police have been raised, specifically to combat Left Wing Extremism. 30,000 posts in the Police Cadre have also been created including armed formations along with specialized training centres and other logistic facilities for their deployment. Thus, considering the fact that Left Wing Extremism is an issue of joint responsibility, and the state government is doing its lot to combat the menace, the Government of India may appreciate the difficulties of states like Odisha while charging for such deployment of central forces for dealing with Left Wing Extremism,” he wrote.
PNN