By IANS,
New Delhi/Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Monday sought from the centre Rs.1,503 crore for building a metalled road along the 600-km porous border the state shares with Nepal, which provides a “safe” conduit to terrorists and Maoists.
The demand was raised by her during a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his residence in New Delhi.
Mayawati also raised objections to the central government’s plan to deploy central forces in states directly, describing it as “interference”.
She asked for an annual grant of Rs.500 crore for equipping the state police with the requisites to deal with the menace.
“The long and porous border is highly vulnerable providing easy escape to both terrorists and Naxalites; a metalled road along the length of the border could help maintain a regular vigil for which we have prepared a project for Rs.1,503 crore,” Mayawati is stated to have told the prime minister.
Briefing mediapersons in Lucknow, an official spokesman said, “The chief minister impressed upon the PM that such a huge project could not be carried out without financial support of the central government, specially since it involves security of our national borders.”
Mayawati also stressed upon the need for a better telecommunication network between India and Nepal.
She urged the centre to ensure extradition of terrorists and Maoists who manage to slip into Nepal where they allegedly find a safe haven.
“Though we have done our bit by creating an Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), besides building a special team of 2,000 commandos, what seems to be lacking is intelligence support from the centre,” Mayawati said.
She suggested the need for central intelligence agencies to share information with the state police, “in order to ensure better grip over terrorist and Naxalite activities”.
Highlighting how the state had decided to enhance the strength of its police force through 240,000 fresh recruits, the chief minister flayed the centre for scaling down its annual financial assistance towards state policing from Rs.123 crore to Rs.92 crore.
The recruitments would drastically improve the state’s police-population ratio, she said. At present the ratio is as low as 83 policemen for every 100,000 population, which would go up to 145 cops, the chief minister added.