Foodgrain shortage hits naxal areas

Jagdalpur, Dec 6 (UNI) Foodgrain shortage is looming large in the naxalite affected areas of Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh with several thousand tribals uprooted from their villages after being caught in the hostilities among the ultras, security forces and the supporters of anti-naxal movement 'Salwa Judum'.

The government has opened 22 relief camps to give shelter to about 50,000 people uprooted since the launch of the 'Salwa Judum' movement.

Several ghost villages stand testimony to the long-term damage caused by terror tactics of the ultras and their opponents. The worst affected was agriculture, the mainstay of the tribal economy.

Agriculture department Joint Diorector G K Nirmam said more than 72,000 tribal families in Dantewada district depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Kharif sowing was carried out in only 2.79 lakh hectare out of a targetted 3.23 lakh hectare area and foodgrain production was expected to decline by 80,700 tonnes.

He said impact of the foodgrain shortage would be worst on those staying in relief camps. Uprooted tribals from Bijapur, Usur, Bhairamgarh and Konta blocks were accommodated in such camps. They left their villages abandoning standing crops last year and did not turn up for sowing this season.

Dantewada District Collector K R Pisda said the inmates of relief camps were engaged in job-oriented works like road construction.

Many women inmates of the Nelsanar camp said they had to arrange foodgrains on their own. They were engaged in Nelsanar-Patelpara road construction, but wages had not been disbursed in the past three months, they added.

Meanwhile, prices of foodgrains shot up at Jagarguda, Chintalnar, Pamer, Kristaram and other villages because of the hurdles in transportation caused by the naxalites by cutting the roads, reports received here said.

UNI XC-SP 1251