Uttarakhand Minister calls on Rajnath

Uttarakhand's Minister of Prison and Urban Development Pritam Singh Panwar called on Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh here on Wednesday to discuss the issues of home guards and civil defence volunteers of the state.

Panwar requested for the extension of the Civil Defence Organizations to all districts from existing four districts in the state.

On this, the Home Minister informed Panwar that the Centre has increased the number of rural districts covered under the plan scheme of mainstreaming civil defence in disaster risk reduction from 100 to 240 during August 2014.

He also requested to increase the share of home guards in the police from five percent at present to 10 percent. The Home Minister also assured to release the share of the Uttarakhand Government for the civil defence and home guards at the earliest.

The modernization of police and prisons in the state was also discussed by Panwar.

A call for the installation of latest equipment such as CCTV cameras in the prisons and other places was also made by him. On this, the Home Minister gave him assurance to look into the request and provide necessary assistance in this regard.