The Union Government has rejected two requests of the Odisha Government pertaining to handling the Maoist problem; one, to provide more Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and second, waiving the charges for deployment of these forces.
Union Minister Home Affairs Rajnath Singh in a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has turned down the requests, said sources. Patnaik had requested Central Government to waive Rs1,450.29 crore charged for the deployment of Central forces in the Maoist-affected areas of the State.
“The claim of Rs1,450.29 crore of the Union Government towards deployment of Central Forces appears to be quite unreasonable while joint and coordinated operations of State and Central security forces are a need for internal security,” Patnaik had stated in letter to Singh on February 11.
Patnaik had also informed that he had also recruited, trained and deployed a large number of police personnel for the purpose by bearing huge expenditure from the State Exchequer.
According to sources, Singh in his recent reply has said that Central Government is incurring huge expenditure on deployment of CAPFs in the States as compared to deployment charges borne by the State Governments.
“The Cabinet committee on security has approved the policy that all States excepting the Special Category States are required to bear full charges for deployment of central Forces,” Singh has mentioned in the letter. He has pointed out that due to overall constraint of resources and given larger fiscal space now available to the States due to Fourteenth Finance Commission, it is not feasible to exempt the State Government from payment of deployment charges.
Similarly, to Odisha Government’s request for deployment of two additional battalions of Central forces, Singh has said that given the prevailing security scenario in the country, it will not be possible to provide two additional battalions of Central forces to Odisha.
“There are 16 battalions of Central Forces deployed in the State now. The Odisha Government should try to manage the situation with these forces,” Singh said.
Patnaik had demanded deployment of two CAPF battalion citing Intelligence inputs that Maoists were trying to consolidate their position in western part of the State.