Akhilesh ambivalent on NCTC, says ATS doing a good job

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday chose to remain ambivalent on his government's stand on the National Counter Terrorism Centre, but asserted that the anti-terror squad in UP is already doing a good job in tackling terrorism.

"To tackle terrorism in the state, an anti-terror squad has been formed. With required cooperation from country's top agencies, it is taking effective action against those involved in terrorist activities," he said here.

Akhilesh was addressing the conference of chief ministers on internal security.

A number of states have expressed their reservations over setting up of the anti-terror body NCTC in its present form. On this occasion, Akhilesh, stressed on importance of having a separate cadre for intelligence department, and underscored the need for opening up an intelligence training school in Uttar Pradesh.

"To strengthen the intelligence gathering mechanism, there is a need for having advanced and modern training equipment in the school and regular training by subject specialists. We seek cooperation from the Centre in this regard," he said.

Akhilesh demanded that in view of rising prices of land, the Centre should change its policy of states providing it free of cost for stationing Central paramilitary forces there. "The Centre should change its policy in this regard and buy land in populous states such as Uttar Pradesh for stationing central police forces," he said.

Terming Naxalism as the biggest problem facing the country, Yadav said, "We will have to go to the root cause of the problem and take steps for the overall development of these places." He demanded that states facing Naxalism should be provided additional financial assistance by the Centre and central security forces should be made available in adequate numbers to tackle the menace.