Bihar Chief Minister, Sri Nitish Kumar while speaking on the issues of internal security laid great emphasis on border roads to be constructed along 726 km porus Bihar-Nepal border. He cautioned the people present in the conference that they should be aware of the political turmoil and other recent activities in Nepal and the problems of illegal infiltration, smuggling of narcotics, fake currency, human trafficking, criminal and other related activities. He underlined that there is a urgent need for a security audit along our borders with Nepal. He said that on the line of Indo-Bangladesh and Indo-Pak borders, Indo-Nepal border should also be managed properly. Since, it becomes an international issue, the central government should address it seriously. Bihar Chief Minister was speaking these things today at a “Conference of Chief Ministers on internal security” held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
Sri Kumar further said that this border should also be properly fenced and an all weather border road should also be constructed. Instead of Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB), it should be handed over to BSF. He said that there is a strong case for increasing the number of border outposts, for strengthening and fortification of border outposts, integrated check posts at the border and for joint survey of the international boundary by teams from both countries.
Sri Nitish Kumar said that with regards to Police reforms, Bihar was the first state in the country to enact a “Bihar Police Act, 2007” well within the stipulated time frame 31st March 2007 set by the Supreme court.
With regards to the modernization of police forces, Sri Nitish Kumar emphasized that different arms and equipments, vehicles etc should be purchased by the central government and hand it over to the states, so that the time is not wasted in purchasing processes in between centre and different states and thus the amount too will be spent on time. He further asked the central government to not to penalize states which have not performed well in the past, otherwise, according to him, it will be a case of double jeopardy. Past performance can not be the criteria for blocking future release of funds, as the states that had lagged behind in earlier years would be systemically be deprived in future too.
Bihar Chief Minister informed them that the ratio between police personnel and the state’s population is quite below the national average. He said that the vacancies are to be filled, some important posts have to be created, number of police stations is to be increased, and police personnel are to be trained and equipped with arms; and modern communication technology are to be provided. He asked for financial support for these things. Adequate training slots should be allotted to State and help is also required in setting up of specialized and advanced training centers in the state as police training centers of Bihar has gone to Jharkhand after its partition. Chief Minister further informed that we are in the process of recruiting 13000 police personnel this year. According to him, we have separately already recruited 7,500 ex army personnel to fight extremism, which has been appreciated by former Defence Minister, Sri Pranav Mukherjee and instructed other states to follow Bihar.
Sri Kumar further demanded to set up a National Security Guard (NSG) unit at Patna. He said the central government has initiated similar units at Mumbai, Kolkatta and Chennai but has been forgotten about a distant place like Patna where it will be difficult for NSG soldiers to reach in time. Thus, he demanded that a NSG unit of 100 or 50 soldiers be established in Patna by the central government.
With regards to Naxal situation in Bihar, Sri Kumar said that it is largely under control at the moment and the extremist elements are being engaged on regular basis both by technical and human intelligence led operations. He also mentioned that a surrender and rehabilitation policy is in place in Bihar and have undertaken various operational strategy including “Apki Sarkar, Apke Dwar” to tackle the menace of extremism.
He informed the gatherings that the aforesaid innovative scheme is being implemented in 63 Panchayats of seven extremist affected districts. It envisages expenditure on items like Indira Awas, school buildings, rural roads, social security, welfare schemes, scholarships, stipends, technical training, land reforms etc. He said that all eligible persons of the areas are getting benefits under those schemes. He said that the result of undertaking such development and land reforms measures coupled with effective police actions have presented a very encouraging results and drastically reduced extremist activities and violence in such areas. However, with regards to “Apki Sarkar, Apke Dwar” scheme, Bihar Chief Minister demanded Central government’s financial assistance, so that the scheme could be extended to other naxal affected districts.
The conference was inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh and attended by Union Home Minister and many other Union Ministers and Chief Minister of different states. Bihar Chief Minister was accompanied by Principal Secretary, Sri R.C.P. Singh, Resident Commissioner, Sri Alok Chaturvedi and Bihar DGP, Sri Anand Shankar.
