July 9: Bengal is running up a bill of at least Rs 10 lakh a day to keep security forces on their feet in Lalgarh, a burden the cash-strapped state possibly could have avoided had it not given a free run to the Maoists for seven months.

If the security forces remain in Lalgarh at least till the end of this month as the state government wants them to, the amount will touch nearly Rs 5 crore. This is more than double the Rs 2.4 crore the state pays as salary to its entire police force, barring IPS officers, a month.

By this evening — 22 days since the Lalgarh operation was launched — the state’s liability stood between Rs 2.35 crore and Rs 2.43 crore, according to estimates given by officials (see chart). The bill covers only daily expenses and does not include the cost of armaments and equipment used in the operation.

“Please do not underestimate the Maoist threat and I urge the entire House to sink political differences on it,’’ chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told the Assembly today. ( )

The chief minister did not make any reference to the monetary cost. But the meter had started ticking the moment the forces set foot in Lalgarh after prolonged inaction left the state government with little option but to approach the Centre.

A senior official in Writers’ Buildings said 50 companies of state police and central forces were “on their feet” in Lalgarh, Ramgarh, Pirakata, Binpur and Sarenga and, in the 22 days since the operation began, the state has already run up a bill in the vicinity of Rs 2.5 crore.

The 50 companies include 17 of the CRPF and the BSF and 24 state police forces. Nine companies of central forces had already been patrolling West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia since last year after Maoists exploded a bomb on the chief minister’s route in Salboni.

One company has around 100 personnel and, the officials said, the expenses needed to maintain each was at least Rs 25,000 every day, which works out to an “average” of Rs 12.5 lakh.

“The cost covers the daily expenses incurred by the forces for food and logistic support,” a senior home department official said. “The central paramilitary and state contingents are likely to stay there for at least a month and the cost may be nearly Rs 4 crore by the time the operation completes a month,” the official in the Bengal secretariat added.

The state government will save a few lakhs on account of a daily allowance that is paid by the forces the personnel are attached to. The allowance varies between Rs 55 and Rs 70. For the 2,600 central paramilitary personnel, the amount comes to anything between Rs 1.43 lakh and Rs 1.82 lakh. The state government does not have to pay this amount.

Asked about the costs, a senior home official said money had to be spent for “area domination” in Lalgarh.

A source in the central home ministry said the movement of a battalion from one place to another costs anything between Rs 18 lakh and Rs 25 lakh. The expenses increase if a battalion is airlifted. This cost, too, the source added, has to be borne by the state that has requisitioned the battalion.

Bengal inspector-general (law and order) Raj Kanojia said the state’s primary responsibility was to make infrastructure arrangements for smooth movement of troops. “For that, whatever money is required will have to be spent but the amount will certainly be big.”

The bill would have been higher had the cost of weapons and devices been factored in. Much of the money spent on weapons now comes from police modernisation funds.

Central funds are given to fight the Maoist insurgency. But Kanojia said: “We should not confuse the two. The Lalgarh problem is a law-and-order one and funds spent on that by the state or the Union government will have nothing to do with the Centre’s yearly grants.”