Rs 547 cr for police modernisation in seven years

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 20

The Centre has provided a whopping Rs 547 crore for modernisation of the Jammu and Kashmir police in the past seven years.

However, the funding, both under plan and non-plan sectors, has witnessed a constant decline since 2010-11, probably owing to the failure of the state government to submit utilisation certificates (UCs) in time.

In response to an RTI application of Jammu-based activist Raman Sharma, the Union Home Ministry said the UCs amounting around Rs 5 crore, both under plan and non-plan heads, were pending up to March 31, 2015. “For the year 2015-16 and 2016-17, the UCs are not due,” the reply said.

The reply revealed the allocation of funds by the Union Home Ministry for the police modernisation had been reduced significantly as compared to previous years.

“In years 2010-11 and 2011-12, an amount of Rs 148.25 crore and Rs 109.73 crore, respectively, was given to the state government, whereas in the year 2015-16 and 2016-17, it received only Rs 35.88 crore and 24.63 crore, respectively,” it said.

The activist had asked for details about the funds provided by the Central government to the state government for modernisation of the police from April 2010 to February 2017.

According to the guidelines of the funds released under the police modernisation scheme, it has been made clear that unless UCs were made available for the full amount of the released money, no further release of funds would be made to any entity.