The prime minister said left wing ultras continue to target vital installations and kill innocent civilians in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Orissa and West Bengal.
“Our response to left wing extremism must be calibrated to avoid alienating our people, especially those in the tribal areas. It must also go hand in hand with social and economic development of areas affected by left wing extremism, bringing them into the mainstream of national progress”, he said.
The prime minister, who was addressing the Chief Ministers Conference on internal security, urged them to create Special Intervention Units in states to enhance the speed and decisiveness of quick response teams.
The prime minister also referred to the problems of the inadequate number of policemen and the deficiency in training of police personnel.
The prime minister said states should increase the proportion of the budget earmarked for police infrastructure and training. He said currently 80 per cent of police budget is used for salaries, allowances and pensions.
He hoped to see greater efforts from states and enhanced allocations in state budgets for recruitment and training of police personnel and for improving infrastructural facilities available to police forces.
“The figures collected by the Ministry of Home Affa
irs show that at the end of September 2009, about 3,94,000 of the sanctioned posts in the State and Union Territory police forces were lying vacant. This constitutes a large proportion –– about 20 per cent –– of the total sanctioned strength”, he said and asked chief ministers to take expeditious action to fill these vacant posts.
The states may also like to develop specialised commando forces to counter terrorist acts. “I would urge chief ministers to make full use of the scheme formulated by the Central Government to assist the Special Branches of states in strengthening their intelligence capabilities,” he said.
The prime minister stressed the need to have a coordinated approach between the Centre and states to tackle the menace of fake currency notes.
In some instances of recovery of fake currency, especially by banks, there has been a reluctance to register the First Information Report. This has to be avoided and all such cases must be thoroughly investigated, the prime minister said.