CM wants Rs 255-cr Central fund to strengthen city police

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Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay
Posted: Jan 02, 2009 at 0235 hrs IST

Kolkata Ahead of the January 6 meeting of chief ministers on internal security in New Delhi convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in a letter to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, sought Rs 255 crore from the Centre to modernise Kolkata police.
Bhattacharjee sent a host of proposals to strengthen Kolkata police in view of the Mumbai terror attacks in his letter sent on Wednesday. The salient features of the upgradation process include raising the skill and competence of security force, upgrading surveillance, getting more equipment and ammunition for the Special Branch of Kolkata police, setting up of a combat battalion training college and procuring more equipment and weapons for the entire Kolkata police.

The proposal also includes strengthening of the Special Task Force attached to the Kolkata police that was set up recently to handle any terror attack.

The chief minister has also requested the Prime Minister to set up a dedicated NSG hub in the city. The aim of the whole exercise is to prevent a possible terrorist attack in the city. Recently, a team led by A K Maliwal, chief security liaison officer to the chief minister, went to Mumbai and visited the spots hit by terrorists. The team, which talked to the police officers there, also spoke to Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist caught during the attack. The team is going to submit its report next week.

On January 7, Bhattacharjee will attend a meeting convened by the Union Home Minister to discuss Naxal activities. The meeting will be attended by chief ministers of seven states affected by Naxalism — West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. “These Naxalites are based in Jharkhand and after striking here they go back there. We will request the Centre to do something about it,” a state Home department official said. — ENS