Rs 120 cr to Naxal-hit states for building 400 police stations

NEW DELHI: With non-Congress chief ministers opposing the proposed NCTC, the Home Ministry now seems to be trying to reach out to them by releasing the first instalment of Rs 120 crore for construction of 400 fortified police stations, mostly in Naxal-hit areas of these states.

As part of a decision of the Cabinet Committee on Security, the Home Ministry has identified 83 worst Naxal-hit districts to construct or strengthen 400 fortified police stations at a cost of Rs 2 crore each.

The Ministry has released Rs 120 crore -- Rs 30 lakh each -- as first supplementary grant for incurring expenditure on these police stations located in nine Left-wing extremism affected states.

The states which will be benefited most are Bihar (85 police stations), Chhattisgarh (75), Jharkhand (75), Odisha (70), West Bengal (18) and Madhya Pradesh (12). Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Chhattisgarh's Raman Singh, Jharkhand's Arjun Munda, Odisha's Naveen Patnaik, West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee and Madhya Pradesh's Shivraj Singh Chouhan have come out strongly against setting up of NCTC.

All these non-Congress chief ministers had complained that the Central government was planning to set up the anti-terror hub without any consultation with them.

Following their protests, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram wrote separate letters to them trying to allay their apprehensions.

The remaining of the 400 police stations, 40 will be constructed in Andhra Pradesh, 15 in Uttar Pradesh and 10 in Maharashtra.