PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday at a review meeting on Left-wing extremism, held at New Delhi under the chairmanship of Home Minister Amit Shah, categorically said that fight against Left-wing extremism was a joint responsibility of both the Centre and the state through proper coordination and operation.
He also stressed on the need of sharing the financial burden of deployment of central forces in Naxal infested areas. Kumar warned against the proposed discontinuance of Special Infrastructure Scheme (SIS) from the next financial year.
"Therefore, it is our request that this expense be jointly shared by both governments. At the same time, I would like to clarify that Bihar government has always been prompt in making payments on time to the MHA", Kumar said.
Speaking about the measures being taken for choking of flow of funds to outlawed Maoist outfits, Kumar said "we had submitted a proposal to the central government that this power of confiscation of property (currently vested only in the Enforcement Directorate) worth up to Rs five crore be extended to an officer of the rank of Inspector General of Police in a state also".
He expressed displeasure on turning down of proposal by the central government. He stressed on the need of reconsidering on the proposal of the state by the central government in order to effectively check of money laundering to outlawed outfits.
"It shall not be out of place to mention that whenever our state raises the issue of continuation of financial assistance in central sponsored schemes on the same scale as was being done earlier or demand for more resources is raised, the central government refuses to entertain them saying that as per the recommendations of 14th Finance Commission state is being given more funds and we have to remain content with that", he lamented.
"Fight against left-wing extremism is a joint responsibility of centre and state. Therefore the financial burden should also be shared by both", he reiterated again.