CAPF deployment based on availability of forces & ground realities: Union minister

BHUBANESWAR: As the state government has been demanding deployment of two more battalions of central armed police forces (CAPF) in Odisha , the Centre on Wednesday said the deployment is based on situation, availability of forces and other ground realities. It was informed by Union minister of state for home affairs G Kishan Reddy in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha to a query of BJD’s Prashanta Nanda.

Odisha government has been demanding two additional CAPF battalions to tackle the left-wing extremism (LWE) menace, which is still challenging in at least six districts.

Stating that the CAPF deployment is a dynamic process, the Union minister said at present eight each battalion of central reserve police force and border security force and one battalion of Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (COBRA), a specialized unit have been deployed in various LWE-hit districts of the state.

Replying to a separate query of BJD member Amar Patnaik, Reddy said the Centre has released Rs 66.67 to Odisha under the special central assistance scheme in 2019.

“From 2014 to 2018, there has been 27 per cent reduction in LWE related incidents in Odisha. Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Ganjam, Gajapati, Dhenkanal and Jajpur districts were removed from the list of Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme in 2018 due to significant improvement in LWE scenario,” said Reddy.

Odisha has at present 15 LWE-affexcted districts-- Koraput, Malkangiri , Nabrangpur, Rayagada, Sambhalpur, Sundargarh, Nayagarh, Kondhamal, Deogarh, Kalahandi, Nuapada , Bargarh, Bolangir, Angul, Boudh.

As far as release of security-related expenditure (SRE) fund to Odisha is concerned, the Union minister while replying to a query of Sarojini Hembram said an amount of Rs 251.70 crore has been released to Odisha under the SRE (LWE) scheme while Rs 9.74 crore has been released to Odisha during the current financial year.

While the state government has sent a list of 483 locations to the Centre for installation of mobile towers in the LWE-affected areas of the state under the Mobile Connectivity Scheme in LWE-affected areas, Reddy said towers have already been installed in 325 locations.