First rural call centre in naxalite-affected TN district

Sanasandiran (Tamil Nadu), Sep 2: Youngsters living in the naxalite-influenced Krishnagiri District of Tamil Nadu can now hope to earn their livelihood working in country's first-ever rural call centre after it turned operational this past week.

FOSTERA has been set up in the Sanasandiram Village of State's Krishnagiri District and is expected to generate a big hope among the youth of the region.

The call centre is presently employing 120 youngsters mostly from Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri Districts, the stronghold of Naxalites in the State.

It was declared open by Tamil Nadu's Minister of Rural Development M.K. Stalin who inaugurated it on Friday.

The district office has instructed its officials to conduct a benchmark survey of people below poverty-line alongside initiating steps to change the mood and mind-set of the youth, particularly 'influenced' by Naxalite thoughts.

Dr. Santosh Babu, the District Collector for Krishnagiri District, said: "Today, we can transform any youth. These youngsters are from the naxal-affected villages of Krishnagiri District, having 50 villages and from some other villages. Basically, they are very poor and have a weak background."

The State-run call centre FOSTERA (fostering technologies in rural areas) has been started with an initial investment of 0.4 million rupees. The government has proposed to open more such call centres in the State.

Krishnagiri District that borders Karnataka in the west and Andhra Pradesh in the north, is said to be an active base of Naxalites.

The Tamil Nadu Government has signed up memorandum of understanding (MoUs) with IT majors such as Wipro, Comet and Information Technology Professionals.

The District administration has also planned to set up more call centres in other naxal-affected areas of the District.

Presently, the programme has been implemented in 50 Naxal-affected villages in the blocks of Kelamangalam, Thally, Uthangkarai, Matthur, Bargur and Kaveripattinam in the Krishnagiri District

The State Government has directed the District administration to monitor and evaluate the measures taken to transform the basic mindset people influenced by pro-naxal activities.

ANI>