CM HAS ALSO SOUGHT FUNDS FOR SETTING UP A POLICE ACADEMY FOR OFFICERS’ TRAINING IN SHIMLA
From page 01 SHIMLA: The Himachal Pradesh government has requested the Centre to redeploy the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) along the militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir border in Chamba.
Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, who also holds home portfolio, met Union home minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Saturday. In 2012, the MHA had recalled ITBP maintain that the Himachal’s boundary with Jammu and Kashmir had been peaceful. The states intelligence and security agencies had expressed it’s apprehension militant attacks.
Thakur also urged the MHA to raise allowance for SPOs posted in the border areas of the state on a par with those posted in Jammu and Kashmir. While SPOs deployed in the state get Rs 3,000 monthly salary, their J&K counterparts get nearly Rs 5,000.
Himachal Pradesh shares 224 kilometre boundary with J&K’s remote region that comprises Bhadrawah and militancy-hit Doda and Kishtwar districts.
There are currently 24 posts along the border adjoining J&K’s Doda and Kathua districts. Of these, nine were manned by the ITBP troops before they were withdrawn.
NDRF BATTALION SOUGHT FOR STATE
The CM also demanded an NDRF battalion for the state being in a disaster-prone zone.
Since response teams take time to reach the spot in case of natural calamities, stationing an NDRF battalion in the state will help people get prompt relief, he said. He urged the Union minister for heli-taxi services on subsidised rates for the state on the pattern of the northeastern states. He also asked the Centre for more funds to modernise the police force.