Centre asks Chhattisgarh for Rs 800 cr expense on paramilitary forces

The Union Government has asked the Chhattisgarh Government to pay the due of Rs 800 as against the reimbursement cost of the central paramilitary forces deployed in the state to combat the Naxalites.

The move of the Union Government had put the state authorities in a fix as managing a huge sum of Rs 800 crore was not an easy task. The state government had however started the exercise to get the due recovery exempted.

The ministry of home had deployed about a dozen battalions of central paramilitary forces in the Chhattisgarh-the worst Naxal-infested state in the country.

As per the norms, the state government had to pay the reimbursement cost of the deployment to fund the salary and allowances of the security personnel deployed in the state.

“Besides the reimbursement cost, the state had to bear the expenses of the accommodation and food for the jawans. Since the state had been demanding exemption of the reimbursement cost as had been done in the other states, it did not pay the amount”, a senior police official said. The government however bore the expenses of accommodation and food.

In November this year, the ministry sent a letter to the state government asking to pay the due amount of Rs 635 crore. After receiving the letter, Chief Minister Raman Singh rushed to New Delhi and met Union Home Minister P Chidambaram with a plea for exemption. Chidambaram put the ball in the court of Ministry of Finance.

Singh later met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. But he could not get any convincing assurance for the exemption.

According to senior officials with the state, home department, the ministry of home had sent another letter this month informing that the amount had increased to Rs 800 crore.