By IANS
Shimla : In view of the presence of a large number of foreign tourists and refugees in the state, the state government proposes to issue photo identity cards to them.
A suggestion to this effect was made to the central government Thursday at the Chief Ministers Conference on internal security by state Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in New Delhi.
“At present there are about 23,000 Tibetan refugees and 25,000 Nepalese nationals besides other foreigners in smaller numbers,” Singh said.
“Even though the state police agencies keep a close vigil on their activities I would suggest the home and external affairs ministries take steps to introduce photo identity cards to these persons for proper identity checks,” he said.
Singh said, “In order to avoid infiltration of terrorists from Jammu & Kashmir into Himachal Pradesh’s Chamba district some eight battalions of security forces are already deployed.”
He said Himachal will soon become the first state in the country to implement Common Integrated Police Application (CIPA) in all police stations in the state.
“CIPA has already been implemented in 65 police stations and the remaining will be covered by next year.”