State to recover Rs 12 cr for providing security

MUMBAI: Several government organisations and individuals, including politicians, owe the state government a whopping Rs 12 crore for the security cover provided to them, police sources told TNN.
Many of the defaulters are state and central government organisations and politicians who have so far not paid the government for the security provided to them.
The state police provide security to various Union government organisations which are then supposed to reimburse the expenditure incurred on the security deployment, sources said.
The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre was the only one to pay up when it reimbursed around Rs eight crore to the government recently. The government is now thinking of ways and means to recover this money from the defaulters.
Sources said that the state government spends over Rs two crore every month to provide security to over 600 politicians and an equal number of other individuals who are constantly guarded by policemen.
The police charge Rs 250 a day for an armed policeman and Rs 500 for a carbine-wielding gunman along with a constable.
However, more than the expenditure on armed guards, the police have to spend a large amount of money in the up-keep of vehicles which are posted for VIP security, an official said.
For instance, the highest category—Z plus—provided to VIPs like Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray includes an undisclosed number of policemen equipped with bullet proof escort vehicles, sophisticated weapons and metal detectors.
The expenditure decreases as the category scales down from Z to Y, X and XX.
The police also provide security to private individuals like businessmen and film stars, for instance, but only after ensuring that the payment is made at least a month in advance.
However, the government uses its discretion on whom to charge.
“The government provides security to certain VIPs at its own expense. However, a high-power committee chaired by the chief secretary uses its discretion on charging individuals depending on the status of the person and the threat to his life,’’ a senior official explained.
The protection is provided by the police superintendent of a district or the police commissioner of the city only after intelligence reports on the threat perceived to the person’s life justify it.
In fact, last month’s decision to scale down the security cover of at least 25 individuals was taken by the threat perception committee headed by chief secretary V. Ranganathan last year.
“Many people had got an undesirably high number of police personnel guarding them. The security provided to them no longer justified the threat perception which had come down considerably,’’ a senior official said.
Last month, the government brought down the security of former Punjab police chief, Julio Rebeiro and former deputy chief minister, Gopinath Munde to the Z category.
Similarly, melody queen Lata Mangeshkar and former deputy municipal commissioner G.R. Khairnar were put into the Y category instead of the Z cover provided to them earlier.