Centre laments Chhattisgarh's lack of effort in dealing with naxals

Lucknow, July 13 (UNI) The Centre today lamented a lack of effort on part of the Chhattisgarh government in dealing with the naxal menace.

Union Minister of State for Home Sripraksh Jaiswal said the Chhattisgarh government was not using its full energy in dealing with the problem. ''We want the Chhattisgarh government to take inspiration from Andhra Pradesh in dealing with the menace,'' he said.

Mr Jaiswal said the Chhattisgarh government should improve the training of its police personnel and depute ''good'' officers to tackle naxalites. ''No matter how many central force personnel we send to that state, the local police will have to be improved to dislodge the naxals,'' he said.

He claimed that good police officers who could provide results should be appointed to deal with the crisis. ''The Andhra government has trained its men at the Greyhound Academy...the state has been able to curb the menace to a great extent,'' he said.

He also appreciated the West Bengal Government for taking on the naxalites. The Union Minister asked the Jharkhand and Orissa governments to take lessons from West Bengal to deal with the situation.

To a poser, Mr Jaiswal propogated the use of force with dollops of development to deal with the situation.

He said the growing number of casualties of central para military personnel in Chhattisgarh was a matter of worry for the Union Government.

Talking about the overall internal seurity environment of the country, he said the situation in Jammu and Kashmir was the most peaceful in the past ten years. ''The killings and intrusions have gone down considerably in Jammu and Kashmir,'' he said.

The minister informed that while fencing of the entire Indo-Pakistan border was completed, 90 per cent of the fencing had been completed at the Indo-Bangladesh border. ''With technological advancements, terrorists can slip in from the water front too. We have asked the state governments to increase river patrols and have also assured them all possible assistance to increase security at coastal areas.

UNI