Chhattisgarh cabinet clears anti-narcotics task forces, SOG to tackle high-risk threats

RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh cabinet on Wednesday moved to tighten its grip on narcotics and high-risk incidents, approving new anti-narcotics task forces and a special operations group (SOG) under police headquarters. The state govt cleared fresh staffing for an anti-narcotics network across 10 districts, besides, approving a clutch of decisions spanning flight training organization, cloud migration and mobile connectivity in remote and Left-wing extremism affected pockets.The decisions were taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai at secretariat.To strengthen the crackdown on narcotics, the cabinet approved 100 new posts to set up district-level anti-narcotics task forces in Raipur, Mahasamund, Bilaspur, Durg, Bastar, Surguja, Kabeerdham, Jashpur, Rajnandgaon and Korba.In another key policing decision, the cabinet sanctioned 44 new posts for the formation of an SOG under the Special Branch at the police headquarters. The state govt said the SOG will be trained to respond swiftly to major or sudden incidents, stabilise situations on the ground and neutralise serious threats in the shortest possible time.On the jobs-and-aviation front, the cabinet approved guidelines to establish Flight Training Organisations (FTOs) at airports and airstrips in the state to enable pilot training. The initiative will be developed through private participation, with the govt projecting allied opportunities such as aircraft recycling, helicopter bunking and aero-sports facilities, an official said.The cabinet approved a Mobile Tower Scheme to expand digital infrastructure, particularly in geographically difficult and LWE-affected areas where weak connectivity hampers delivery of welfare schemes and governance. The plan aims to simplify and time-bound permissions for service providers, and is expected to improve access to services such as PDS, direct benefit transfers, health, education and emergency response systems including Dial-112, the government said.On the tech governance side, the cabinet approved the Chhattisgarh cloud first policy, under which departments and autonomous bodies will procure cloud services only from providers empanelled by the Government of India’s IT ministry or from secure India-based data centres and disaster recovery centres. Low-priority applications and archived data are to be migrated by 2027-28, and high-priority services by 2029-30, with all new applications to be built on cloud-native technology. The details of policy, officials said would be divulged later. In an urban governance move, the cabinet decided to hand over 35 residential colonies built by the Chhattisgarh housing board and the Raipur development authority to municipal bodies. The officials said residents were facing gaps in civic services and “double burden” payments—property tax to local bodies and maintenance charges to agencies—due to delays in transfer. The handover is expected to streamline delivery of water, power, roads and sanitation, and reduce extra maintenance costs for residents, they said. For planned development in the capital region, the cabinet cleared construction of a large multi-storey office complex in Nava Raipur Atal Nagar for government departments and state-run bodies, with space allocation aimed at optimal land use.To speed up land decisions for riverfront-linked planned development, the cabinet authorised district collectors to allot govt land for projects in Sirpur and the Arpa area. The govt said allotment would be at a Re 1 premium and nominal rent, considering the financial position of the special area development authorities.