By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today called for maintaining the democratic and federal structure of the country intact. He said that while formulating the National Investigating Agency, (NIA), Act 2008, the democratic and federal structure of the country has not been taken care of. The State Governments have neither been consulted nor informed while formulating the above Act.
Chouhan was speaking at the meeting of Chief Ministers called by Union Home Minister and chaired by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh at New Delhi. He thanked the Prime Minister for calling the conference of chief ministers to tackle terrorism, an official Press release said.
He expressed his fear that the proposed Act in its present form will not be able to counter terrorism prevailing in the country. He suggested that provisions of POTA and MACOCA should have been included in the Act 2008.
Chouhan said that the NIA 2008 has been given enough powers which in practical purposes will face many difficulties i.e. the Agency can arrest any person for enquiry without taking the State police into confidence. Apart from this, with the appointment of Special Judge to deal such cases the Central Government will have the final say. The provisions of the above Act can be misused to settle scores for some personal enmity. He called for the need for setting up an autonomous commission or Authority under the Act for an unbiased investigation. He said that centre should provide a financial package to State police.
He drew the Prime Minister’s attention on the language used by the Union Home Minister in a letter written to Chief Ministers on December 27, 2008. It appears that the Union Minister is ordering the elected representatives, which is highly objectionable.
The Chief Minister informed the meeting about the steps taken by the Madhya Pradesh Government to counter terrorism on the one hand, and strengthen the investigation and State Intelligence on other hand. The State has established a intelligence cadre in which about 325 trained officers and lower level staff are already on the job. A State situation room under DSP has been set up to look in the law and order and intelligence gathering and the information gathered to be shared with field officers and IB. An Emergency Response Mechanism has been prepared to tackle terrorism. Fifty policeman trained by National Security Guard, (NSG) have joined Counter Terrorist Group, (CTG), with modern weapons at Bhopal. Emergency Response and CTG will be set up at five major towns and other Commissioner level, he added.
Chouhan called for the need to issue Identity Card to citizens of the country and setting up of NSG training centre in the State for which land and other facilities will be provided by the State Government. A proposal regarding this is pending with Government of India. This will help in curbing terrorism. The State Government is fully committed to counter terrorism for which 400 acres of land has been allotted for setting up of centre of Intelligence Training College.
He said that there is need to share intelligence between State Government and Central Agency. He pointed out that till now, the detailed information on 26/11 Mumbai blasts has not been shared. In fact, the above information has been given to FBI by the Government.
To tackle terrorism there is an urgent need for financial assistance by the Central Government. Separate action plan should be chalked out. Seventy-five per cent of the expense should be borne by Government of India and 25 per cent by the State Government. He said that Government of India has started security related expenditure scheme in which only areas affected by Naxal activities is included. This short of approach will not be correct to tackle terrorism, he added.
Chouhan said that police per persons ratio in Madhya Pradesh is much lower than the national level. He asked for additional funds to bridge the gap.