Communal Violence Bill an attempt to appease minorities: Dhumal

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal on Saturday termed the proposed Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill,2011 as an attempt by the Centre to appease the minorities.

Opposing the draft legislation in its current form,Dhumal said that the Bill would hurt the federal structure of the country and would amount to a direct interference into the domain of the state governments. Instead of bringing the new legislation,the existing laws should be implemented effectively to deal with incidents of communal violence,he added.

He was speaking at the National Integration Council meeting in New Delhi.

Dhumal also sought enhanced assistance to accelerate the development programmes along the nearly 201-km long international border with Tibet and China.

“The budget Rs 200 crore allocated by the Centre for the year 2011-12 is insufficient. There is a need for more support keeping in view the tough geographical and topographical locations as construction cost here is much higher in comparison to the plains. The Centre should also sanction two additional police battalions for the border areas,” he said.

The CM also raised a fresh demand for full reimbursement of the cost of providing security to Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama and the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje.

He said that around 33,500 Tibetan refugees are living in the state and they are being provided security by the government.