By IANS,
Bhubaneswar: The Orissa government proposes to set up a special force – on the lines of the Central Industrial Security Force – to provide security to industries facing threats from the Maoists, officials said Tuesday.
“We will raise an industrial security force in the state. We are bringing an ordinance in this regard. We are also seeking advice from legal department. Then we will take it to the cabinet soon,” said state Chief Secretary Tarunkanti Mishra.
The state government has already approved the proposal in principle and it is expected that the bill will likely be introduced in the coming assembly session.
“Initially, we will assign a basic force and later the strength will be increased based on requirements. The new force will meet the requirement of both private and public sector,” Home Secretary A.P. Padhi said.
Earlier Tuesday, the state government reviewed the security of the mines and the measures taken by the companies in view of the Maoist attack on Damanjodi mines of Nalco in last April.
“We had already instructed the mining companies to take measures for mining security. The mining companies had been told to strengthen the security around the mines. They had been told to keep small amount of explosives in the mining area in case of a naxalite (Maoist) attack and transport explosives during daytime only. It was a review meeting to follow that up,” Padhi said.
The meeting was attended by representatives of industrial houses including public sector enterprises.