Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa recalled that firm action was taken to quell the activities of some front organisations espousing Left Wing extremist ideology and attempting to build a mass base in the state. Tamil Nadu has also been free of religious fundamentalist violence.
On the maintenance of law and order, Jayalalithaa said she had provided a free hand and uncompromising support to the police. She said her government had made it clear that it would not spare anyone who tried to whip up communal passions and create caste tensions and the police were given a clear mandate to curb such activities with an iron hand.
Funds for Police
Requesting the Centre to increase financial assistance for the modernisation of the police force, she pointed out that the allocations from the Centre had come down in 2012-13. “I am also disappointed to note that the Central share in the scheme of modernisation, which was 75 per cent, has been brought down to 60 per cent, placing a higher burden on the finances of the State government,” she said.
On the contrary, her government had, realising the imperative need to improve infrastructure, mobility and weaponry of the police force, sanctioned `619 crore in the last financial year. She urged the Centre to come out with a refurbished national plan for the modernisation of the State police forces.
Jayalalithaa said a national project in mission mode for computerising fingerprint applications was the need of the hour. She suggested that bringing in the necessary legislation to enable the building up of DNA databases should be given top priority by the Centre.
Reiterating her views on the creation of National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Jayalalithaa said the turf war between the Intelligence Bureau and the Centre’s own agencies like R&AW and the Directorate General of Military Intelligence was well known. “Creating a further layer of contradictions through a dysfunctional structure would be counter-productive. Any national counter terrorism institution can ill-afford to work in isolation from the State police,” she observed.
