Centre blames Patnaik govt for rise in Maoist activities

New Delhi, May 10: The Centre has singled out

for an "alarming" rise in the activities of

and accused the

government of failing to take any counter-measure.

"It is pertinent to mention that Odisha is the only state of India where activities of CPI(Maoists) are spreading to new areas at an alarming rate without requisite counter-measures by the state government," the Home Ministry said in a message sent to Director General of Police and Principal Secretary (Home) of Odisha government. The Home Ministry told the state government that since the hostage crisis arising out of the abduction of two Italians and an MLA was resolved, it should rework on the strategy to deal with "rising Naxalism" in the state.

"Intelligence-based sustained anti-Naxal operations may be launched to prevent the CPI(Maoists) from capitalising on the circumstances arising out of the recent developments in the state," the message said. The Home Ministry also cited several instances of Naxal violence and the state government's "failure" to check the menace despite having a strong presence of central paramilitary forces.

"In the wake of the recent abductions by Maoists, anti-Naxal operations have remained suspended in Maoist strongholds in southern districts and are yet to be resumed even after the release of the hostages," it said. The Home Ministry also said that due to lack of operations by security forces, Naxals are reported to have decided to exploit the circumstances to further consolidate their influence and spread across several districts.

PTI