Naveen urges Centre to waive off force deployment charges

Bhubaneswar: Terming the charges levied by the Union government for deployment of Central paramilitary forces as ‘unreasonable’, chief minister Naveen Patnaik today requested Union Home minister Rajnath Singh to totally waive it off.

In a letter sent to Singh in this regard, Patnaik wrote, “I would request you to consider waiving off the charges on accounts of deployment of Central police forces altogether.”

The Directorate-General of CRPF had written a letter to the State government on December 29, 2014, claiming Rs 1,450.29 crore as deployment charge of CRPF/RAF till September 9, 2014.

To this, the letter said, “The claim of Rs 1,450.29 crore of the Union government towards deployment of Central forces appears to be quite unreasonable. In the present internal security scenario, joint and co-ordinated operations of State and Central security forces are the need of the hour and such demands should not take precedence over the urgent operational requirements so far as deployment of Central police forces is considered.”

The CM’s letter also mentioned about the previous letter written on October 10, 2011, to the then Union Home minister requesting wavier of the charges as well as the reply of the ministry of Home Affairs saying that there is no provision for waiving off deployment charges till further orders from the Union government.

Hinting about huge expenditure incurred by the State exchequer on account of recruitment, training and deployment of State police personnel for anti-Naxal operations, the letter said, “It is the responsibility of both the Union government and the States to fight Left wing extremism affecting various parts of the country including Odisha, by pooling together their resources.”