Report Card of Ministry of Home Affairs for October, 2009

Susanta K Beura — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 05:37:25 +0000

The Union Home Minister Shri P. Chidambaram presented the Report Card of the Ministry of Home Affairs for October, 2009 here today. Following is the text of the Minister’s statement:

“The highlight of the month of October, 2009 was the Assembly elections held in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana and Maharashtra. They were by and large peaceful. 298 Coys of CPMFs/SAPs/Border Wing Home Guards were deployed for the elections. The sole incident that marred the peace occurred in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, in which 17 personnel of the Maharashtra police were killed. The CPI (Maoist) was responsible for the attack on the police party.

2. On October 5, 2009, I delivered the sixth Nani Palkivala Memorial Lecture at Mumbai. In the course of that lecture, I appealed to the naxalites to abjure violence and pave the way for the State Governments concerned to talk to them on their demands and include them in the process of development and inclusive growth. I also appealed to the leaders of civil society to prevail upon the naxalites to abjure violence and take the road of democracy and dialogue.

3. I visited Jammu & Kashmir on October 13-14, 2009 primarily to attend the All India Editor’s Conference. I also met the Governor and the Chief Minister. Following my visit, we have identified a number of issues on which follow up action is being taken by the Central Government and the Government of Jammu & Kashmir. We intend to follow up on the promise of “quiet talks, quiet diplomacy” with all shades of political opinion in Jammu & Kashmir.

4. A sum of Rs.30 crore was released to Jammu & Kashmir as advance for payment of one-time cash compensation in lieu of appointment in Government service to the next of kin of persons killed by militants. Sanction was issued for release of balance of Rs.5.3 lakh to J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, Srinagar.

5. I visited Jharkhand on October 22, 2009. I reviewed the development and social welfare schemes of the Government. I was briefed on the security situation and the readiness of the State Government to hold elections to the Legislative Assembly. The requirement of police personnel for elections was also discussed. On my return, the Government recommended the dissolution of the Legislative Assembly of Jharkhand with effect from November 1, 2009. The President of India issued a Presidential order to that effect on October 23, 2009. The Election Commission of India has since announced that elections will be held between November 25 and December 18, 2009.

Disaster Relief

6. On October 5, 2009, I accompanied the Chairperson, UPA, and the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and the Chief Minister of Karnataka, respectively, on an aerial survey of the flood affected areas of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The Prime Minister also visited Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Following the Prime Minister’s visit, the Government announced an advance of Rs.1000 crore each to the two States from the NCCF. Central teams have been despatched to the two States to make an assessment of the damage due to the floods and submit their reports.

Internal Security

7. We continue to remain vigilant against any terror threat or attack. In Jammu and Kashmir, led by the Army and the J&K police, the security forces have been able to neutralize a number of attempts of potential militants to infiltrate into India.

8. The most serious threats to internal security in October 2009 came from the CPI (Maoist). I have already referred to the incident in Gadchiroli. On October 6, 2009, the body of Francis Induwar, Inspector, Special Branch, Jharkhand police was found with his head severed in Khunti district, Jharkhand. On October 20, 2009, two policemen of the West Bengal police were killed and the OC of Sankrail PS was kidnapped by the CPI (Maoist). On October 25, 2009, there was a serious incident in the NMDC mines area in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh. Four members of a routine CISF patrol were killed and two injured in an IED explosion. These killings were mindless, savage and cold-blooded murders. On October 27, 2009, the CPI (Maoist) and their supporters in the PCPA held the Rajdhani Express with 1250 passengers hostage for nearly 5 hours. In the last two days alone, there have been violent incidents in West Bengal (CPI(M) and Trinamool Congress cadres shot dead); Jharkhand (2 school buildings blown up); Andhra Pradesh (Congress worker shot dead); and Chhattisgarh (1 SPO and 1 villager killed). All these incidents, in my view, point to the nature of the challenge of the naxalites. The violence must end. The State – the Central Government and the State Governments – have a duty to end the violence. It is with that objective that we have made a simple and straight forward appeal to the CPI (Maoist): “Halt the violence”. These are three simple words, and I do not see why they should be subjected to tortuous interpretation and analysis. On behalf of the Central Government I wish to say once again that the CPI (Maoist) should halt the violence and the Central Government would persuade the State Governments to talk to the CPI (Maoist) on all matters including their concerns on land acquisition, forest rights, industrialization and development. I regret to say that the response so far has been disappointing.

9. Lt. General (Retd.) Vijay Madan has been appointed as Interlocutor to hold talks with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM).

10. Following the decision of the DHD(J) to lay down arms and move its cadres into designated camps, the stage has been set to hold talks with the DHD(J) as well as some other groups which have evinced their interest to hold talks. It is proposed to hold talks with the DHD(J), UPDS and the NDFB (pro-talks). In consultation with the Government of Assam, Shri P C Haldar has been appointed as the interlocutor.

11. Union Home Secretary visited Guwahati on October 9, 2009 and chaired a meeting of State Home Secretaries and State Intelligence Chiefs of the North Eastern States. He also visited Kohima, Nagaland on October 13-14, 2009 and reviewed the law and order situation in Nagaland. During these visits, he also interacted with diverse sections of civil society.

CPMFs

12. Sanctions amounting to Rs. 188.41 crore were issued during the month for various infrastructure works of the CPMFs as follows:

CRPF - Rs. 94.79 crore

SSB - Rs. 49.76 crore

AR - Rs. 37.46 crore

ITBP - Rs. 6.40 crore

13. Sanctions amounting to Rs. 38.50 crore were issued during the month for acquisition of land for various establishments of the CPMFs as follows:

CRPF - Rs. 31.13 crore

ITBP - Rs. 3.97 crore

AR - Rs. 2.64 crore

BSF - Rs. 0.76 crore

14. CISF will be deployed for security at BHEL, Ranipet. 198 posts have been created for this purpose.

Border and Coastal Security

15. On the India-Bangladesh border, 20 kms of fencing and 30 kms of new roads were completed in the month of October 2009. Besides, 25 kms of fencing was replaced.

16. On the India-China border, 196 kms of roads are in various stages of construction. 46.63 kms of formation works and 4.77 kms of surfacing works were completed in the month of October.

17. Construction on the Naga – Jadhang road in Uttarakhand was started in October, 2009.

18. Under the Border Area Development Programme (BAPD), Annual Action Plans have been received from 15 States. The first instalment amounting to Rs. 310.57 crore was released to 12 States, viz., Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

19. M/s. GSL Goa and M/s. GRSE, Kolkata were required to supply, by June 30, 2009, 24 boats for coastal patrolling and security. The supply was, however, completed in August, 2009. According to the schedule, they were required to supply 60 more boats during the period July 2009 to February 2010. As against this number, they supplied 14 boats in September and 4 boats in October, totaling 18 boats. It will be seen that there is slippage. We have conveyed our concerns to the two shipyards. They have informed us that 20 boats are ready for delivery. Taking into account the original allocation and the readiness of the States to take delivery of the boats, a revised allocation order has been issued today. Accordingly, the 20 boats have been re-allocated as follows:

State	Revised allocation
Gujarat	3
Maharashtra	6
Goa	1
Karnataka	1
Kerala	1
Lakshadweep	0
Daman & Diu	2
Tamil Nadu	1
Andhra Pradesh	1
Orissa	2
West Bengal	2
Total	20

States are being requested to take delivery immediately. Efforts are being made to impress upon the two shipyards to deliver the remaining boats before February 2010.

Immigration

20. On October 12, 2009, the Planning Commission gave in-principle approval for Rs.1,011 crore for the implementation of the Mission Mode Project on Immigration, Visa and Foreigners Registration & Tracking (IVFRT). The Project aims to develop a secure and integrated service delivery framework to enhance security and facilitate immigration, issue of visas and registration. The Project will be completed in September 2014 and would cover 169 Indian missions in foreign countries, 78 ICPs (Immigration Check Posts), 5 FRROs (Foreigners Regional Registration Offices) and all FROs (Foreigners Registration Offices) in the State/District Headquarters.

21. Computerization and networking of 42 Immigration Check Posts (ICPs) is progressing satisfactorily. The hardware has been delivered to 25 ICP sites and hardware and a local area network have been installed at 11 other ICPs. 139 e-Passport Reading Machines (e-PRMs) have been procured for installation at the Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai Airport ICPs.

Police Modernisation

22. Under the Modernisation of Police Forces (MPF) Scheme, Rs.201.06 crore was released to the States in October 2009 against the total allocation of Rs.1187.50 crore for 2009-10.

23. The Centre-State MoU for the CCTNS project has been signed by 34 States/UTs. Only one State is yet to sign the MoU.

Other Policy initiatives

24. Shri Raghu Raman has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer to implement the NATGRID project. He was in the private sector and has agreed to accept this assignment until May 2011 when the project is expected to be fully implemented.

25. On October 22, 2009, the Cabinet approved the National Policy on Disaster Management. On the same day, the Cabinet also approved a proposal to strengthen Fire and Emergency services in the country under a Plan Scheme with an outlay of Rs 200 crore during the Eleventh Plan period.

26. Following on the proposal made at the Chief Ministers’ Conference, we have approved a scheme for strengthening of special branches in the State with a total outlay of Rs 150 crore. The scheme will be implemented by the State Governments with technical and financial support from the IB.

Census 2011 and National Population Register (NPR)

27. Direct data collection for the National Population Register (NPR) is in progress in the coastal villages of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry. The biographical details of more than 20 lakh residents and biometric details of more than 1 lakh residents have been recorded.

28. As regards Census 2011, field survey work for the preparation of geo-referenced enumeration blocks bas been completed in 1100 wards out of 2018 wards in 33 capital cities.

States and UTs

29. Rs 5.61 crore was sanctioned for the procurement of 337 new vehicles for the recently created 29 police stations and 9 sub-divisions of Delhi Police.

30. Rs 1.73 crore was released to Dadra & Nagar Haveli for FY 09-10 under the MPF Scheme.

31. The East Punjab Urban Rent Restriction (Amendment) Act, 2001 was extended to the Union Territory of Chandigarh by notification dated October 9, 2009.

32. The powers and functions of the Central Government under the Delhi Municipal Act, 1957, save a few powers, were delegated to the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi by order dated October 26, 2009. Thus, a long standing demand of GNCTD has been fulfilled. The delegation of powers is in accordance with the recommendations of several committees appointed in the past.

33. The Third Finance Commission for the Union Territories of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep submitted its report today. The report will be processed and appropriate decisions taken.

34. Government has accepted the proposal of Government of Orissa to change the name of the State from “Orissa” to “Odisha” and the name of the language from “Oriya” to “Odia”. A Bill in this regard would be introduced in Parliament.

The IPS cadre

35. On October 15, 2009, the one-man committee on “Recruitment Plan (2009-2020) for the Indian Police Service”, headed by Shri Kamal Kumar, IPS (Retd.), submitted its report. The report confirms my conclusion that there was grave neglect in determining the number of candidates to be recruited to the IPS in the Civil Services Examination during the four-year period 1999-2002, and that, as against the number of 85, only 36 candidates were recruited each year, resulting in a shortfall of 49 candidates a year or a total shortfall of 196 candidates. The report has recommended that the annual recruitment between 2009-10 and 2019-20 be fixed at 130 and that a Limited Competitive Examination may also be conducted for 7 years to recruit an additional 448 candidates. I have to regretfully point out that the damage can be repaired only over a period of 11 years. I have directed that the report be processed expeditiously and placed before the competent authority for appropriate decisions.

36. A Mid-Career Training Programme (MCTP) for IPS Officers has been approved at an estimated cost of Rs. 68.53 crore. Under the Programme, beginning January 2010, SP, DIG and IG-level officers would be imparted specialized training at premier Indian and international academic/training institutions.

37. The following appointments were made:

Shri NK Tripathi, IPS (MP: 1974) : Special DG, CRPF

Shri PPS Sidhu, IPS (UP: 1975) : Special DG, BSF

Freedom Fighters

38. The Minister of State, Shri Ajay Maken, visited Hyderabad on October 22, 2009 and held discussions with the Screening Committee of Eminent Freedom Fighters. This Committee was re-constituted recently to scrutinize pension claims relating to the Hyderabad Liberation Movement”.