Bihar seeks Rs 1906 crore assistance to combat naxal menace

Patna, APR 16 (UNI) The Bihar government today demanded Rs 1906 crore financial package from the Centre to combat naxal menace in the state.

After the meeting of Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG), state Home Commissioner Afzal Amanullah told newspersons here that the state government had demanded special financial package of Rs 1906 crore for development of the extremism-dominated areas and for modernising and strengthening the police force.

He said of the total fund more than Rs 400 crore had been sought from the Centre for modernisation of the police force and the rest amount would be spent on road sector, agriculture, minor irrigation and public health and engineering activities.

Additional Secretary of Union Home Ministry Vinay Kumar, who presided over the meeting of the IMG, told newspersons that the state government was being strengthened for effectively combating the naxal menace.

Apart from providing modern and sophisticated weapons, the Centre had decided to streamline and strengthen the intelligence services and the policemen would be given training to fight the extremists.

Mr Kumar informed about the committee, constituted under his leadership for development of the naxal-affected areas and said the committee was keeping an eye over the developmental activities and naxal problems of such places.

The growing extremism could be tackled with proper development of the affected areas, he added.

Mr Kumar said in order to get first hand information over the problem, the committee decided to hold meetings in the extremism- affected states and during the meeting in Bihar, all important issues related to naxalism were discussed.

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