Naxal affected states' leaders meet Home Minister

New Delhi, Dec 8 (UNI) Jharkhand Governor Syed Sibtey Razi and Chhattisgarh Governor Lt General K M Seth today met Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil to explain the steps taken by them to contain the naxal menace in their states.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Kora also met Mr Patil in the evening.

The meetings are significant in view of the recent spurt in naxal violence in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

Recently, in Jharkhand, a landmine blast killed many security personnel whereas Chhattisgarh has emerged as a major centre of naxal activities in the country.

Despite the naxal violence showing declining trend in the current year, its intensity has marginally increased primarily because of higher casualties in Chhattisgarh.

The meeting is significant as the Home Minister is chairing the Empowered Group on Naxalism and the Chief Ministers are members of the group.

According to the records, Chhattisgarh has emerged as one of the a major centres of Naxal activities in the country with as many as 374 civilians and police personnel being killed in the state this year while only 60 Naxalites were gunned down and 264 apprehended.

Jharkhand remained the second biggest centre of naxal violence with 101 people and police personnel killed, while 18 Naxalites were killed and 232 of them arrested till November 30, according to the Home Ministry sources.

In 2005, naxal violence was reported from 509 police stations of eleven states. However, 76 districts of nine states, affected by the Naxalite menace, are covered under the SRE scheme. These inlcude 16 districts of Jharkhand and eight of Chhattisgarh.

Meanwhile, the Central Government has been pursuing a multi-pronged approach to combat the naxal problem which includes focussed attention on integrated socio-economic development in the Naxal affected areas. Besides, funds are being provided under various Centrally Sponsored Schemes(CSS) to the states for socio-economic development.

Expressing concern over the low level of utilisation of funds of Rs 2475 crore, allocated under the Backward Districts Initiative in some states, the Centre has asked them to improve it.

The Central Government, which regularly monitors the progress of utilisation of funds, has asked them to improve delivery mechanisms to speed up the pace of development and ensure full utilisation of the assistance.

Funds under BDI component of the Rashtriya Sam Vikas Yojana (RSVY) has been sanctioned to fill in the critical gaps and physical infrastructure in the naxal affected districts. It is released to the state governments and monitoring of implementation of the scheme is done at the district and state levels.

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