Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday told the State Assembly that the State Government’s repeated requests for additional deployment of Central forces to deal with left-Wing Extremism (lWE) have not been considered by the Centre so far.
The Chief Minister while replying to the discussion on Demand for Supplementary Grants of Home Department and the GA Department informed the House that Maoist menace in Odisha was mostly caused by infiltration of Maoists from Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand as well as from Andhra Pradesh.
“The asymmetric deployment of Central forces on Chhattisgarh border is a major issue towards which we have drawn the Central Government’s attention. However, as usual our repeated requests for additional deployment of Central forces have not been considered so far,” said the CM.
Asserting that the State Government is taking every possible measure to check the Maoist menace, Patnaik said, “The commitment of my Government to eliminate lWE menace is reflected in our determined efforts to complete the most challenging Gurupriya bridge in spite of Centre not giving adequate funds.”
The CM also informed that as many as 3,748 missing children were rescued through Operation Muskan-III which was appreciated by the Union Home Ministry.
Claiming that the State has remained by and large peaceful, Patnaik asserted that his Government gives top priority towards crime against vulnerable sections of the society especially women, children, SCs and STs.
Earlier, leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra, initiating discussion, slammed the State Government for not appointing lokayukta after two years of the Odisha lokayukta Bill got the President’s assent. He too slammed the NDA Government at the Centre for not appointing a lokpal yet.
Corruption can’t be eradicated unless a lokpal at the Centre and a lokayukta at the State are appointed, he said.
After CM’s reply the grants of the two departments of Rs 288,04,64,00 were passed.