Rs.10,000-cr police modernisation plan on anvil

AGARTALA - The union home ministry will soon launch an ambitious Rs.10,000-crore scheme for modernisation and welfare of police forces across the country, a top police officer said here Monday.

“The union Ministry of Home Affairs is expected to push the Modernisation of Police Forces Scheme (MoPF scheme) next year with 10 times larger resources,” Tripura Director General of Police Pranay Sahaya told IANS.

The scheme was discussed in the annual conference of directors general and inspectors general of police that was held in New Delhi last week. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Home Secretary G.K. Pillai, among others, addressed the conference.

Sahaya said: “The MoPF scheme, which is under implementation since 2001 with Rs.1,000 crore funds, would expire March next year.”

According to the senior IPS officer, 75 percent of the Rs.10,000-crore funding would be for housing of police personnel of sub-ordinate ranks while 25 percent would be used for modernisation of state police forces.

“It is proposed that the funds under the MoPF would directly be placed with DGPs through a society. The financial powers of the DGP be adequately enhanced to the extent that all sanctions under modernisation scheme come within his powers,” Sahaya said, referring to the deliberations of the DGPs’ conference.

In view of the increasing terrorist threat and efforts to curb the financing to terrorists outfits, the DGPs’ conference advocated the necessity to amend the Foreign Exchange Management Act and other related laws so as to empower the state police authorities to deal with the monetary network of the militant organisations.

“Powers to handle the financing to the terrorist organisations currently vest only with the government of India officers under the act. There is an urgent need for devolving such powers to the state police too,” Sahaya said.

The union home ministry has sanctioned Rs.1.50 crore to Tripura to set up a counter-insurgency and anti-terrorist school at Bagabasa in northern Tripura to train security forces to suitably deal with the militancy.

“Current sanction for the training school should be augmented to Rs.3 crore as applicable for other mainland states,” the state police chief said.