The Centre has turned down the proposal of the Chhattisgarh Government for its inclusion in Category ‘A’ under its Modernisation of State Police Forces (MPF) Scheme.
In the category ‘A’, the fund sharing ratio for Centre-State is 90:10 for the scheme. Under the MPF Scheme, the States are grouped into two categories, namely Category ‘A’ and Category ‘B’ for the purpose of funding both under ‘Non-Plan’ and ‘Plan’.
Category ‘A’ States, namely, J&K and eight North Eastern States including Sikkim, are eligible to receive financial assistance on 90:10 Centre:State sharing basis. The remaining States are in Category ‘B’ and are eligible for financial assistance on 60:40 Centre:State sharing basis. Accordingly, the State of Chhattisgarh falls under Category ‘B’ under the said Scheme.
The proposal of the Government of Chhattisgarh to include the State in Category ‘A’ for funding on 90:10 Centre: State sharing basis has been considered and the Chhattisgarh Government has been intimated that there is no proposal to change the funding pattern on MPF scheme.
The focus of Modernisation of Police Force (MPF) scheme is to strengthen the police infrastructure. Some of the major items of police infrastructure covered under the scheme are police building, police housing under Plan and mobility, weapons, equipment for training, computerisation, forensic science and Mega City Policing (MCP) under Non-Plan.
The Plan component under MPF Scheme was started only in 2013-14. No fund has been provided under Plan component of MPF Scheme during 2015-16. The Scheme stands transferred to the States. Consequently, there will be no Central Funding of construction activities of police building and police housing for State Police Forces under MPF Scheme.
However, there is a non-plan allocation of Rs595 crore under BE 2015-16 for mobility, equipment, weapons, etc for State Police under MPF Scheme. Police and Public Order fall under the category of subjects within the domain of the State as per Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India.
Although the Central Government has been supplementing the State Governments through the aforementioned Scheme, the primary responsibility for modernising the Police Force and maintaining law and order in the respective States lies with the State Government.
This was stated by the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary in a written reply to a question by Kamla Devi Paatle in the lok Sabha.
It may be recalled that the Chhattisgarh Home Department had recently approved Rs286.22 crore in 2014-15 for construction of various offices and residential quarters besides other infrastructural development of police establishments.
Moreover, Rs150 crore have been approved for construction and renovation of buildings of 75 police stations in insurgency infested districts of the State. Construction of three buildings have already been completed and handed over to Police department. Six other buildings are nearing completion, while construction of remaining 66 buildings is in process, officials stated.
For infrastructural development in Police department, the Home department has approved Rs22 crore for construction of Armoury and magazine building, purchase of weaponry, telecommunication and security equipments.
An amount of Rs7.91 crore have been approved for offices and administrative buildings of various battalions. This includes Second Battalion based in Sakri (Bilaspur), Seventh Battalion based in Bhilai, 17th Battalion based in Kabeerdham and 18th Battalion based in Manendragarh.
The department has approved Rs1.98 crore for each battalion. An amount of Rs1.75 crore have been approved for construction of multi-storey barracks in Fourth Battalion based at Mana.
Other than offices and administrative buildings, the Home Department is also paying attention on facilitation of residential quarters for officials-employees. Police Department has approved Rs40.16 crore for construction of residential buildings for officials and employees (including 200 non-gazetted and 304 constables) posted in various Battalions, based at Raipur, Koriya, Dhamtari, Janjgir-Champa, Mahasamund and Raigarh. Besides, Rs62.50 crore have been provisioned in previous fiscal year for construction of residential quarters of 144 non-gazetted and 676 constables in various districts of state.
Moreover, Rs1.72 crore have been approved for construction of Shaheed Vatika in Rajeev Smriti Van of Raipur. State Government has approved Rs10.50 lakh for various administrative residential buildings in Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College, under 13th Finance Commission.
It may be recalled that the Chhattisgarh Government was in the process of installing Solar Photo Voltaic Power Plant (SPVPP) of 2 KV capacity each in the police stations and base camps in insurgency infested districts of Bastar region.
The Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA) has already floated tenders for supply of equipment for the solar power plants, officials stated.
CREDA had already established solar energy equipment in different police stations and base camps in the insurgency hit Kanker district, officials stated.
The equipment installed ensures uninterrupted power supply in the hinterland. The base camps and police stations located in regions like Pakhanjur, Koylibeda, Durgkondal and Antagarh now have solar energy equipment installed in the district. lighting through solar lamps help police personnel and make it easy to counter the Maoists during an attack. In case of a black out or fault in power supply lines, solar lighting arrangements help in the restive regions.