Soren: Centre must stop raising bills for central forces' deployment

New Delhi: The Centre's demand of Rs 10,000 crore from the Jharkhand government as a fee for the deployment of central security forces in Naxal-affected areas has created a serious controversy during the high-level meeting on 'Left-Wing Extremism', which was organised by Union Home Ministry on Sunday.

Raising the serious concern, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren urged the Centre to discontinue this practice of raising bills for the deployment of central security forces to combat extremism in Naxal-affected states as the problem of militancy is a big challenge for both the Centre and the state.

"As much as the responsibility of ending it is on the state government, the responsibility lies with the Central government as well because they (Maoists) don't believe in the constitutional structure of the country. The Central and state governments have to deal with this problem together on the principle of cooperative federalism," the Jharkhand CM said.

"In this scenario, it does not seem pragmatic on the part of the Centre to demand money from the state governments for the deployment of the central security forces. I have been informed that till now a bill of Rs 10,000 crore has been raised by the Union Home Ministry against the state of Jharkhand in this regard," he said, adding that it is my humble request that these bills be written off and also that government of India takes a decision not to send such bills to the state governments in the future.

While spelling out the achievements of the Jharkhand government in putting a check on Maoist activities in the state, Soren said that the state has recorded a drastic reduction in the number of insurgency incidents in the recent past as such incidents have come down to 125 in 2020 from 195 in 2016.

The civilians killed in Maoist incidents have also reduced to 28 in 2020, which was 61 in 2016 and 715 militants arrested, 18 Maoists killed and 27 ultras surrendered during this period, Soren said at the meeting. "It's the outcome of effective actions being taken against the extremist organisations that the presence of militants in the state has been restricted mainly to Parasnath Pahar, Budha Pahar, Seraikela, Khunti, Chaibasa, Kolhan area and some areas of Bihar border. The day is not far when LWE would be wiped out from these places too," Soren said.

"Till the year 2020 and August 2021, 27 militants have also surrendered. The lucrative surrender policy of the state is also being promoted. Efforts are being made to bring back the misguided youth in the mainstream through community policing. The government is coming up with a 'Sahay' scheme for youth in Naxal-affected areas. Under the scheme, youth and other people will be connected in these areas through various sports," he said.

The Jharkhand CM also urged the Centre not to stop the Centrally-sponsored schemes at a sudden as it affects the efforts being made in the direction of eradication of extremism and sudden closure of such schemes would give an opportunity to the extremism to spread its wings again.

The state has also decided to increase the wages paid to MGNREGA workers as the rural job scheme would prove to be an effective way in improving the condition of Naxal-hit areas, he said, adding that the Centre should fund 100 Kasturba schools in Jharkhand, which are mostly affected by Maoists.