Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday urged Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to exempt Odisha from paying Rs1,450.29 crore, which the CRPF Directorate General claimed to have spent towards deployment of Central Forces in the Maoist-hit areas of the State upto September 30, 2014.
In a letter to Singh, Patnaik said the State received a letter from the CRPF Directorate General dated December 29, 2014 asking for the said amount as forces deployment charge. Patnaik pointed out that as combating left Wing Extremism is the responsibility of both the Centre and the States, the amount incurred by the Centre for CRPF deployment should be waived.
Stating that Central forces deployment is essential to supplement the efforts of the State police to counter Maoists, Patnaik said the Odisha Government has also recruited, trained and deployed a large number of police personnel for anti-Maoist operations and is bearing huge expenditure from the State exchequer.
The Chief Minister further apprised that Ministry in a letter dated January 16, 2014 has, in response to the State’s earlier letter, informed the State that there is no provision for waiving of charges as per the prescribed norms.
Patnaik has termed the claim as unreasonable. “The claim of Rs1450.29 crore of the Union Government towards deployment of Central forces appears to be quite unreasonable. In the present internal security scenario, joint and coordinated operations of State and Central security forces are the need of hour and such demands should not take precedence over the operational requirements so far as Central forces is considered.”