Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today urged Prime Minister Narendra to waive the charges towards deployment of Central Forces in Odisha.
In a letter dated April 29, 2021, Patnaik requested PM Modi to direct the Ministry of Home Affairs to waive an amount of Rs 4561.23 crore of Odisha Government towards deployment charges of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) upto October 1, 2020.
Earlier, the CM had written to the Centre on June 10, 2015, appealing to reconsider the decision of charging Odisha Government for deployment of Central Forces to combat Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in the State.
“In response, the then Union Home Minister vide his D.O. letter No.27012/93/2014-PF-V, dated August 25, 20215 had intimated that there had been no change in the extant policy of the Government as approved earlier by the Cabinet Committee on Security. As such, all States except the few Special Category States, viz., North-East, J&K and HP, are required to bear full charges for deployment of CAPFs in their states. Further, he intimated that due to overall constraint of resources, it was not feasible to exempt the State Government from payment of deployment charges,” CM wrote today.
It is worth to mention here that only in Odisha, but also the Naxal violence has spread to large areas of the country.
As the Left Wing Extremism is a national issued and a grave internal security threat to the integrity of Nation, this major challenge has to be addressed by both Government of India and the State Government(s) jointly, Patnaik said in the letter.
He said that the Government of Odisha Government has been proactive in spending from its scanty resources in creating and deploying security forces even amidst its tight fiscal situation.
“Around 15 battalions of State Police have been raised, specifically to combat Left Wing Extremism. 30,000 posts in police cadre have also been created including armed formations along with Specialised Training Centres and other logistics facilities for their deployment. Thus, considering the fact that Left Wing Extremism is an issue of joint responsibility and the State Government is doing its lots to combat the menace, Government of India may appreciate the difficulties of States like Odisha while charging for such deployment of Central Forces for dealing with Left Wing Extremism,” the letter read.