New Delhi:
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday sought urgent consultations between the centre and the states over issues like the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) saying any delay in this regard would affect handling of law and order problems.
"As you know, we have had a crisis involving abduction of an MLA (Jhina Hikaka) and also two Italian nationals by left wing extremists and this delay will only further aggravate such problems," Patnaik said at the Chief Ministers' Conference on internal security here.
He said he has been writing "repeatedly" to the Centre that it was a matter of "urgent" importance and an immediate meeting of chief ministers should be called to "address concerns about the federal rights of the states".
Mr Patnaik, who had earlier questioned the Centre's move to go ahead with a sensitive matter concerning terrorism without taking the states into confidence, hoped the issue of consultations with the states scheduled for May 5 is "addressed seriously".
Stating that his government was committed to deal with left wing extremism, he asked the Centre to include four more districts in the state such as Kalahandi, Nuapada, Baragarh and Balangir, lately affected by Maoist menace, under the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme.
He also sought deployment of two additional battalions of Central Armed Police Force in Koraput and Malkangiri districts and demanded stationing of the unmanned aerial vehicle facility in Koraput to cover all districts in Andhra-Odisha border.
A revised plan of Rs 127.05 crore under the SRE scheme for the current fiscal may be approved by the Centre, he said.