The Centre on Tuesday urged states to speed up police reforms and focus on training of the police forces. With most states pitching for additional funds under the police modernisation scheme, the home ministry reminded them of their laxity in submitting proposals for receiving grant under the 13th Finance Commission amounting to `1,759 crores.
Sources disclosed that most chief ministers said that the state police forces should be provided modern weapons and the Naxal-affected states should be given more helicopters for better movement of security forces.
Addressing a press conference, home minister P. Chidambaram said that 53 training slots in the police forces were vacant. He also said that more IR battalions will be sanctioned to the states once they fill up the vacancies.
Mr Chidambaram obliquely pinned blame on the Uttar Pradesh authorities, saying that minimum security was provided by the state police when violent incidents occurred during ITBP recruitment in the state. Mr Chidambaram said the ITBP centre had informed the state police “well in advance” but the state police provided only “minimal forces” for the recruitment drive. “I am told that about 50,000 people turned up finally. Buses were burnt and then the ADGP sent reinforcement,” he said. The home minister said the state police was obliged to provide security to any kind of recruitment camp and such a programme is not held without the knowledge of the state police.
The home minister said during the conference he drew the attention of the chief ministers to alleged human rights violations. “I said terrorists, insurgents also violates human rights, in fact they violates human rights with greater impunity, yet since we are in the government, we are elected representatives, we run democratic governments, people hold us in high standard, we must not tolerate any violation of human rights,” he said. Referring to the police reforms act, Mr Chidambaram said, hopefully, all states would pass their respective police reforms act by the end of 2011.