In order to make Unified Command (UC) more effective to carry out anti-Maoist operations, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to preside over the UC meetings.
In a recent missive, the MHA has impressed upon the Chief Minister to chair the UC meetings and hold the meetings in every quarter. As per an earlier decision taken at the Chief Ministers’ Conference held in June 2010, the Chief Secretaries were allowed to chair the UC meetings.
The command structure of UC consists of the Chief Secretary as Chairman, Development Commissioner, Principal Secretary Home, DGP, Director Intelligence, IG Operations, IG Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), IG Border Security Force (BSF) and Representative of the Intelligence Bureau as Members.
Maoist-hit States like Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal are having the UCs since 2010. While Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh is chairing the UC meetings, the MHA has requested the Chief Ministers of other States including Odisha to preside over the UC meetings, said official sources.
Barring Odisha and Chhattisgarh, other States are not convening UCs regularly, which came to fore during the recent meeting of the Chief Ministers held on June 5 in New Delhi to review internal security.
Odisha is leading the front as it is very regular in organising UC meetings and till date held 10 meetings since the constitution of the UC on August 9, 2010.
An Odisha official said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, in fact, prefers in getting himself engaged in taking up developmental projects rather spending time in regulatory jobs like chairing UC meetings. Patnaik also takes stock of anti-Maoist operations during the reviews on law and order situation every week, where the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and DGP brief him regularly, said the official.