An amount close to the total annual budget of Delhi or 300% of the total budget of Goa is owed by several states and Union Territories (UTs) for the deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), News18 has learnt. According to the ministry of home affairs, the total money due was Rs 63,156 crore until October 2021.
Also, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) is owed more than Rs 6,500 crore by airports, PSUs and other installations for deployment.
The home ministry is now planning to intensify efforts to recover the money as it is increasing annually, sources told News18.
Already multiple reminders have been sent to all concerned states, UTs, airports, etc, they said.
Major states that have large amounts to pay are Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, etc, said the sources.
Uttar Pradesh owes close to Rs 4,000 crore, sources said, for which the MHA has already sent a reminder. Similarly, the Delhi government has to pay close to Rs 1,533 crore.
The home ministry in October reminded the Yogi Adityanath government about Uttar Pradesh’s pending bill of more than Rs 4,000 crore for the deployment of central forces in the state over the years. The intimation came along with the approval for the latest deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in the state to handle the situation in Lakhimpur Kheri where there was violence after the mowing down of a group of farmers.
“We request the UP government to pay Rs 4,084.27 crore dues (till 1.7.2021) in lieu of deployment of central police forces,” said the home ministry’s letter in Hindi, approving the latest deployment to Uttar Pradesh.
But, it is nearly impossible for the ministry to recover the full amount, said sources. In fact, some states have requested a waiver of the deployment charges. States that have a permanent deployment of central forces like Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Tripura, etc, in particular have made such appeals. In the recent past, the governments of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Tripura, Goa and Uttarakhand have placed requests for waiver, said sources. But some states have also paid up their dues.
“There have been cases where states told the MHA that it should waive the amount as the deployment has been done in national interest. In the case of Chhattisgarh, the CRPF is deployed to deal with Naxalism. The state government wants the amount waived,” a senior government official aware of the development told News18.
The money owed by airports, PSUs and other installations has been pending for many years and in some cases, the interest has become more than the principal amount. For example, some installations where the CISF is deployed owe close to Rs 48 crore, but due to delay in payment an interest of Rs 101.71 crore has been added, with the total becoming more than Rs 150 crore.
Similarly, PSUs owe more than Rs 511 crore to CISF and an interest of Rs 422 crore has been added due to delays. Airports that have deployment of the force have pending dues of Rs 5,462 core.
In 2019, the home ministry revised the rates for deployment of CAPFs. According to the MHA, earlier, the charges for deployment of one battalion were fixed at Rs 52.40 crore per annum, uniformly applicable for all areas. But from April 2019, it has been decided that states and UTs will have to pay Rs 13.70 crore per annum for one CAPF battalion for 2019-20 for normal areas and for high-risk and moderate hardship, the amount would be Rs 25.18 crore. Similarly, Rs 34.26 crore is the rate for high-risk and high-hardship areas with a provision for an annual increase in these amounts.
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