In the wake of the killing of 14 Hindi-speaking workers in Manipur, the Centre on Wednesday said there was a design to create problems in the name of language and region in various parts of the country and asked states to identify trouble spots for taking anticipatory action.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil said in the Rajya Sabha that state governments were not making optimal use of forces with them to prevent such incidents.

"It is a very very sorry (state of affairs). It is necessary to take a very strong action," he said replying to a question on the killing of 14 Hindi-speaking workers in Manipur on Tuesday.

"This is happening in the north-east. It is happening in the south, it is happening in west and at many other places," he said. There is a design to create such a problem in the name of state, language, religion and tribe.

The state governments, he said, should identify trouble spots, anticipate situations and post personnel to prevent such incidents.

"Forces available with the state governments are not being used in the manner they should be. Anytime there is an incident, the Union government is asked to send forces," he said.

Of the seven lakh Central forces, nearly six lakh are deployed on the borders and only the remaining can be used when the states ask for assistance.

State government should raise their own force and deploy them scientifically.

Besides, vacancies in the existing state forces, which are as high as 30 per cent in some states, should be filled.

"The Union government does not have forces for regular services. They have forces that can be used only as reserve forces," Patil said. "To provide forces is the responsibility of the state government and they should do it."

In a country which has 6.5 lakh villages, the number of police stations is only 14,000. This ratio has to be improved, he said.

"Some states have as many as 30 per cent vacany (in police forces)," he said stressing on the need to fill them at the earliest.

"It would be necessary for state governments to fill vacancy (and) use the forces in the manner that they are put to best use," he said.