Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has asked the Centre to immediately release Rs 555 crore for the modernisation of the police force and to also bear 50 per cent expenditure on the state police budget. The annual budget for the state police establishment has risen to Rs 7,500 crore against which the Centre has been providing a ‘negligible’ Rs 100 crore for modernisation.
The government has asked the Centre to sanction purchase of cartridges and new vehicles under modernisation schemes.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had yesterday convened a conference of chief ministers on internal security in New Delhi. In her message, she said terrorist elements mostly conducted their activities through internet. Therefore, development of cyber surveillance and cyber forensic efficiency was required in the states, while keeping a tab on the financial activities and resources of terrorists.
She said the porous Indo-Nepal border has become an easy route of infiltration by anti-national elements. The state had proposed 640-kms road construction along the border for Rs 1,621 crore and has demanded naxal-infested Chandauli and Mirazapur be included in the ‘focal district’ list with Sonebhadra.
Following the Supreme Court directives, Police Establishment Board and State Security Commission have been constituted. Police Reform Commission has been asked to frame the Police Act. In 2010, counterfeit currency worth Rs 68 lakh was confiscated, 172 cases registered and 80 culprits arrested. Since the state has 80,000 movable police manpower, the government has created over 2,00,000 posts, of which 35,000 personnels have been recruited.