The State Government has once again urged the Union Government to waive charges of Rs 2,010.70 crore towards deployment charges of Central Forces in the Maoist-hit areas in Odisha on the ground that Maoist menace is a national phenomenon.
In a recent official communiqué to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the State Government informed that as concerned States are spending a lot of money to weed out the problem, the Centre should consider deployment of CRPF from national perspective.
Notably, the Centre has regularly been sending bills towards CRPF and BSF deployment and the charges are rising every year.
By December 2013, the demand was for Rs 1,096 crore, which increased to Rs 1,350 crore by December 2014 and to Rs 2010.70 crore by December 2015.
The State Government mentioned that it has created about 20,000 posts, mostly of Armed Police Cadre, to deal with the left Wing menace and the State Exchequer has been burdened with huge expenditure.
Sources said the State Government wrote the letter to the MHA as a response to a bill of Rs 2,010.70 crore received from the Centre recently.
Presently, there are 17 battalions of CMPFs deployed in 18 districts and the State Government is repeatedly asking for two more battalions for deployment in border areas of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Chhattisgarh is now having 56 CRPF battalions, sources said.
Besides, the State Government has also urged the MHA to release Rs 232.35 crore pending with Centre towards Security Related Expenditure (SRE), implemented in the State from 2005-06 to 2015-16.
State Government also apprised the MHA that though the master plan for improving infrastructure under the Special Infrastructure Scheme (SIS) was planned till 2016-17, the Centre stopped releasing funds for 2015-16, putting problem for the achievement of the target.