Home Department allocated Rs 293.95 crore: Dhumal

Shimla, Jul 9 (UNI) Asserting that the Himachal Pradesh Government was committed to maintaining law and order in the state, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today said his government had enhanced the budgetary allocation for the Home Department by Rs 23.29 crore to Rs 293.95 crore during this financial year.

Additional funds would also be made available under the central sponsored schemes for the modernisation of the police, he said here, while reviewing a meeting of the home department last evening.

Expressing satisfaction over the law order situation in the state, Mr Dhumal said the crime was minimal in this hill state.

''Even the minimal crime rate in the state is due to people from other parts of the country. Surveillance on people from outside the state is necessary.'' He also stressed upon the need for strict implementation of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act to prevent the young generation from falling prey to the drugs.

Police personnel in plain clothes should be deployed at different points, especially near the educational institutions, to check use of drugs by the students.

The Chief Minister said the NDPS division had already started functioning in the state, while the DNA testing facilities would also be made available in the near future.

The state government would also consider enhancement in the entry age of the Home Guards to state Police to 35 years to provide them an opportunity to enter police service, he said.

Mr Dhumal said the Home Guards were rendering a yeoman's service in supplementary law and order maintenance services in the state and added that with the enhancement in the age limit, a number of home guards would be eligible to get regular service.

Referring to a large number of corruption cases in the state, he said the state Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau's role had undergone a huge change in the last few years to ensure a corrupt free society.

Several senior state government officials were also present on the occasion.

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