NCTC meets strong opposition from non-Congress states

New Delhi, Mar 12 (PTI) Six Indian states ruled by parties other than Congress Party today strongly opposed the proposed national counter-terror agency mooted by the country's Home Ministry on the ground that it has unbridled powers over the police forces of the states which is not acceptable. Officials of the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha ,Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka opposed the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) at a high-level meeting chaired by Home Secretary R K Singh here today in which states' chief secretaries, home secretaries, police chiefs and chiefs of anti-terror units were present. Support for the NCTC came from Congress-ruled states, sources said. The central Indian government has put on hold the NCTC which was to have been operationalised from March 1 this year and following strong protests by chief ministers of non-Congress states. At today's meeting, the officials representing the opposing states voiced their reservations over the "controlling nature" of the NCTC which they said was not correct, fair and acceptable. They said since the Intelligence Bureau was already performing the job, there was no need to give power of arrest as proposed in the new counter-terror unit, the sources said. After hearing the concerns of these states, the Home Secretary said,"We take note of your concerns and they will be accommodated." Over a dozen chief ministers have opposed the creation of the NCTC, maintaining that it would hurt the federal structure of the country. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha have asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to convene a meeting of chief ministers to discuss the issue. Seeking to allay their apprehensions, Home Minister P Chidambaram had written to non-Congress chief ministers, assuring them that the "next steps" on the NCTC would be taken only after consulting the states. PTI