Centre to discuss devp of Naxal-affected states

New Delhi, Apr 25: A crucial meeting of the Co-ordination Centreon Naxalism will be held here tomorrow amid the increasing focus of theUPA government on improving the developmental needs of theNaxal-affected areas as an effective step to wean away the youth fromfalling into the trap of the red ultras.

The meeting, to be chaired by Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta, willreview and coordinate the steps being taken by the 11 Naxal-affectedstates to effectively combat the menace.

Chief Secretaries and Directors General of Police of the affectedStates and senior officers from the Ministries concerned andDepartments of the Central Government will also attend the meeting.

The main focus of discussion at the meeting would be Chhattisgarh,which continues to be the epicenter of naxal violence claiming thehighest number of incidents and deaths in 2006 and also in 2007 so far.

Naxal activities in Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and Maharashtra will also figure prominently.

As many as 304 civilians, 84 security personnel and 74 Maoistswere killed in the highest of 705 incidents in Chhattisgarh in 2006.

Though the number of insurgency-related incidents has come downduring the first four months of the current year, the situation has notimproved on the naxal front.

However, there was a decrease of 6.15 per cent in the overallquantum of naxal violence in terms of incidents during 2006 over 2005.

As many as 584 arms and weapons such as SLRs Sten Guns, .303rifles, DBBL guns, grenades, landmines and detonators were recoveredfrom the naxal outfits during 2006.

In order to supplement the efforts of the naxal-affected states, theCentre has deployed 33 battalions of para-military forces onanti-naxalite duty, besides sanctioning 29 India Reserve (IR)battalions. The Centre has released Rs 296 crores in 2003-04, Rs. 459crores in 2004-05, Rs 506 crore in 2005-06 and Rs 371 crores so farduring 2006-07 under the Police Modernisation Scheme for modernizationof State Police in terms of modern weaponry, latest telecommunicationequipment and other infrastructure.

A sum of Rs 219 crore has been reimbursed so far under the Security Related Expenditure Scheme for naxal affected areas.

On the development side, the Centre has provided Rs. 2475 croresunder the Backward Districts Initiative (BDI) to fill in critical gapsin physical and social development in the naxal affected areas.

Funds are given now under the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) Scheme.

Home Ministry sources said a meeting of the Empowered Group ofMinisters (EGoM), which was constituted to closely monitor the naxalsituation and evolve strategies to deal with the problem, is likely tobe held within the next few months.

The EGoM is headed by the Union Home Minister and includes theUnion Ministers of Finance, Tribal Affairs, Law and Justice, RuralDevelopment, Panchayati Raj and Environment&Forests. The groupalso has representatives from the worst affected states.

UNI