Scheme for Infrastructure Development in LWE Regions

The Government of India has been implementing various developmental schemes through its different Ministries and Departments for creating infrastructure in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected regions of the country including Chhattisgarh.

Some of such schemes are Road Requirement Plan-I (RRP-I), Construction of fortified Police Stations, Mobile Towers and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) etc. Details of these schemes are:

Road Requirement Plan-I (RRP-I):

This scheme is being implemented by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways for improving road connectivity in 34 most LWE affected districts. This scheme envisages 5,422 Km road lengths. Up to 31st of March 2016, total 3,972 Km road lengths have been completed. Besides, 08 critical bridges are also being constructed of which 01 has been completed and 07 are in progress at various stages.

One ITI and two Skill Development Centres (SDCs) are being established in each of 34 LWE affected districts of 9 States under the Skill Development Scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

Construction of fortified Police Stations:

This scheme envisages construction of 400 fortified Police Stations in 10 LWE affected States at the rate of Rs. 2 crore per police station with funding pattern 80 (Central share) : 20 (State share) basis. Construction of 301 Police Stations have been completed till 19th of April 2016.

Construction of Mobile Towers:

The Department of Telecom has been implementing the scheme for construction of 2,199 mobile towers in 10 LWE affected States of which 1,748 mobile towers have been put on air up to 2nd of May 2016.

The Left Wing Extremists often oppose any development activities in the areas of their influence and try to obstruct the implementation of the schemes. Consequently, some projects are delayed beyond their scheduled time. However, as and when such incidents come into the notice of the Government, adequate security is provided by deployment of Security Forces. Besides, the Government has provided various relaxations for taking up the works in LWE affected areas ensuring early and timely completion of the projects.

These relaxations include accepting of tenders up to 10% higher of the updated cost, splitting the works in smaller parts, awarding of works on nomination basis, separate Schedule of Rates (SoR), extended completion period and general exemption upto 5 hectare forest land under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.