States may lose Central funds
States such as Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar and Assam may face the danger of their Central funds being diverted to other better performing states under the Modernisation of State Police Forces (MPF) scheme. These states have been categorised as the worst performing states by the Union home ministry under the crucial
MPF scheme falling behind even Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh. “In the current financial year, those states who have not been able to submit their pending utilisation certificates will be denied allotment and their funds may be diverted to other responsive states,” a home ministry official said.
Earlier this year, the home ministry had informed the respective state governments that their unreleased amounts may be pooled up and released to better performing states which have no pending utilisation certificates. “It may be pointed out that utilisation of funds is a matter of great concern as the parking of unutilised funds has been prohibited by the finance ministry,” the home ministry told the state governments. The 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai and more recently the rising challenge of Naxalism in West Bengal would require the state goverments to acquire sophisticated weapons and upgrade facilities at police stations from funds received by the Centre. However, states such as Maharashtra, Bihar West Bengal, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya and Tripura fell under the category of “poor performing’’ states with UC’s pending for more than Rs 5 crores at the end of the last financial year. Among the ‘’good performing States’’ are Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab , Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir.
The CAG audit covering 16 states has already raised concern stating that mobility of state police forces has not been strengthened despite the scheme being operational for almost four decades. It noted that most police stations continue to depend on outdated and obsolete weapons. Sophisticated weapons procured under the scheme were either retained in headquarters or in the reserve armoury in the district units. It said that often, even extremist prone police stations were not supplied with modern weapons.
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