C'garh urges Centre to hike fund allocation for police scheme

The Chhattisgarh government has urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to increase the Centre's share under the police modernisation scheme for the state for effective anti-Naxal operations and for enhancing resources of the department, an official said on Thursday.

The Chhattisgarh government has urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to increase the Centre's share under the police modernisation scheme for the state for effective anti-Naxal operations and for enhancing resources of the department, an official said on Thursday. Chhattisgarh Home Minister Tamradhwaj Sahu made this demand in a letter to Shah written on Wednesday.

In the letter, Sahu expressed concern over the gradual reduction in the funds allocated to the state under the modernisation of state police forces (MPF) scheme by the Centre despite the fact that Chhattisgarh has been fighting against the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) for the last several years, the public relations department official said. "In 2013-14, the allocation approved for the state under the scheme was approximately Rs 56 crore, which came down over the years and in 2019-20, it was not even Rs 20 crore," the minister said in the letter.

The main objective of the scheme is to identify and fulfil the necessary shortcomings in the police administration and its operation, he said. Out of the 28 districts in the state, 14 are Naxal- affected, of which eight are the worst-hit. The state government has taken several measures for tackling the menace and increased the strength of the force as well as police stations, he said.

Presently, around 45 Battalions of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) are deployed in the state. When the state came into existence, there were only 22,520 police personnel, whose number has now increased to 75,678, Sahur said. Similarly, the number of police stations has increased from 293 to 467 and police outposts from 57 to 115 during this period. There are 22 battalions of Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) apart from battalions of Special Task Force (STF), he added.

The minister said that due to the expansion of the police force, there is an urgent requirement for basic infrastructure and necessary resources like administrative building, housing and quarters, weapons, vehicles, telecommunication equipment, training resources, etc. "Hence, I request a hike in the Centre's share under the scheme towards the state for more effective anti-Naxal operations and modernisation of police," Sahu said.