SRE to cover honorarium to SPOs, expenditure of prisoners, alternate accommodation of security forces, damage infra of police in 2014 floods
Nasir Azam
Srinagar : The Government of India has allocated Rs 513 crore as security-related expenses for Jammu & Kashmir in the union budget for next financial year.
According to wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Rs 513 crore has been allocated as security-related expenditure (police) for Jammu & Kashmir in 2020-21 fiscal.
As per the budget documents, the major items covered under SRE include honorarium to special police officers (SPOs), rent of accommodation, carriage of constabulary, airlift charges, expenditure on detenues, alternate accommodation for security forces, material and supplies, security works by J&K police, election related expenditure, restoration of infrastructure of J&K police damaged in 2014 floods, high -end security and law & order system under Prime Minister’s Development Package and raising of 5 IR battalions.
The scheme of SRE was introduced in 1989-90 by Union Home Ministry for supporting “logistical requirement” of the police force in order to tackle militancy.
As per KNO, it provides for 100 percent reimbursement of expenditure, with 60 percent reimbursed on receipt of claims and remaining 40 percent after receipt of audit report. Since 1989-90, the Government of India has spent more than Rs 7400 crore for reimbursement of J&K’s SRE.
The expenditure on SRE for 2016-17, the year when Hizb-ul- Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed, was the highest, at Rs 1185 crore.
Apart from SRE (police), the Centre has allocated Rs 202.35 crore in next fiscal for relief and rehabilitation of migrants in Jammu & Kashmir, the documents reveal. The main components of SRE (relief and rehabilitation) scheme are cash assistance of Jammu migrants and Kashmiri migrants, ex-gratia relief in respect of security forces killed in violence/ law & order Incidents, employment to Kashmiri migrants employed under the PMDP, construction of 6000 transit accommodations in the Valley and other components of the package. (KNO)
