Believe it or not, although Delhi has been a prime terrorist target, it features nowhere in the ministry’s figures on fund allocation to seven big cities since 2005
The serial bomb blasts that rocked the Capital on Saturday have exposed the Union home ministry’s repeated claims on preparedness to prevent or counter terrorist strikes. NEW DELHI; At a high-level meeting chaired by home minister Shivraj Patil held here on Sunday, the focus expectedly was once again on how to strengthen police and intelligence networks in big cities.
Not caring to look into the ministry’s own records on shoddy handling of the ambitious Mega City Policing Project for seven cities, the top internal security brass again harped on making this plan effective on ground.
Believe it or not, although Delhi has been a prime terrorist target, it features nowhere in the ministry’s figures on fund allocation to seven big cities since 2005 when the police modernisation plan started. A senior Delhi Police official said this was on the premise that the local police was fully equipped and self-reliant to deal with any situation.
But the ground realities were exposed threadbare again after Saturday’s blasts.
The seriousness of the Centre to strengthen the police in metros can also be assessed from the fact that the allocation for cities such as Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata has drastically decreased every year. Only Ahmedabad received a marginally increased allocation (Rs8.99 crore in 2007-08 as against Rs8.01 crore in 2006-07). Mumbai received Rs5 crore in 2005-06 that was hiked to Rs27 crore in 2006-07 and slashed to Rs20 crore during the current financial year. In case of Chennai, it started with Rs5 crore in 2005-06, Rs20.90 crore in 2006-07 and decreased to Rs15crore in 2007-08.
For Bengaluru it was Rs3 crore in 2005-06, Rs12.99 crore in 2006-07 and Rs9.94 crore in 2007-08; Hyderabad Rs3 crore, Rs12.85 crore and Rs2.19 crore respectively; Kolkata Rs4 crore, Rs14.68 crore and Rs13.70 crore.
The high-level meeting was attended by national security advisor MK Narayanan, cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar, home secretary Madhukar Gupta and senior officials of the central forces and intelligence agencies. They once again decided to strengthen the police and intelligence network in big cities and issue a do’s and don’ts advisory to the states.
a_anil@dnaindia.net 
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