States' concerns over NCTC to be addressed: Govt

Almost all states in principle agreed on the need to have an effective anti terrorism mechanism like National Counter Terrorism Center at the meeting of chief secretaries/director generals of police/inspector generals of states and UTs called by the Union home ministry, the government said on Monday.

The meeting was chaired by Union Home Secretary R K Singh to discuss the issues related to NCTC and police modernisation in New Delhi on Monday, a press release issued by the government said.

The primary concern expressed by the states were in the modalities and details of operational coordination between the states and NCTC. The need to make the states an effective stakeholder in all aspects of counter-terrorism domain and in the proposed NCTC format was a general view expressed by most states and UTs, the release stated.

The need to rework the NCTC order to amplify the powers/functions/duties of the standing council, the specificity of circumstances in which Sec 43A of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act powers can be invoked, the need to ensure that NCTC is also equally obliged to respond to state governments' requests and the need to provide resources to upgrade state capabilities were some of the key points that came up during the meeting.

The Union home secretary thanked the states for their constructive cooperation and emphasised that the nature of terror threats faced by India needs an effective and co-ordinated response of the Centre and states -- for which NCTC would be a crucial instrument. States were assured that their concerns have been noted and would be suitably addressed, the release added.

The various aspects of modernisation of police forces schemes were reviewed and suggestions for faster and more effective utilisation of the funds were discussed, it also stated.