Home ministry raises financial powers of Central police forces, security agencies

New Delhi: Fund sanctioning powers of chiefs of paramilitary forces and directors of other security agencies have been doubled from Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore for carrying out major works executed by CPWD and public works organisations.The limit for major departmental works undertaken by organisations having engineering wing has been raised from Rs 60 lakh to Rs 1 crore and from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh for organisations without engineering wing. [caption id="attachment_2017433" align="alignnone" width="380"] Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. PTI[/caption]The decisions have been taken by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, an official statement said today. The amount could be spent for major and minor works, special repairs, land acquisition and taking buildings and accommodation on rent.Limits for minor works (petty works and repairs) for residential buildings has been hiked from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 25 lakh and for non-residential buildings from Rs 30 lakh to Rs 50 lakh. Financial powers for land acquisition has also been raised from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 34 lakh in each case with a provision that the proposed land acquisition should be through state government only, the statement said. Financial powers have also been substantially raised in respect of special repairs and taking buildings and accommodation on rent.The paramilitary or Central Armed Police Forces are Border Security Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, National Security Guards, Assam Rifles and Sashastra Seema Bal. The orders are applicable to Intelligence Bureau and National Investigation Agency too. In October, with a view to streamlining and expediting the processes in this regard, the Home Minister had more than doubled the delegation of financial powers to CAPFs for procurement of machinery and equipment and arms and ammunition to Rs 20 crore.The modernisation plan-II of CAPFs has a total projected cost of Rs 11,009 crore till March 2017. PTI