MP CM, Kamal Nath expresses commitment to fight Left Wing Extremism, seeks assistance from Centre

New Delhi, Aug 26: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath expressed his commitment in the fight against naxalism and making all efforts to contain and eliminate it.

He called for supplementing Government of India's efforts with State Government's efforts to end the menace. Kamal Nath was speaking at the Review Meeting of Chief Ministers of Left-Wing Extremism affected States called by Union Home Minister Amit Shah at Vigyan Bhawan here today.

Chief Ministers of eleven different states participated in the meeting. Along with the Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh Chief Secretary S R Mohanty, DGP V K Singh and ADG G P Singh also attended the conference.

Informing about the steps taken by the State Government in dealing with LWE, he said that HAWK force was created in the year 2000 coupled with the participative development policies. This has resulted in limiting naxalism only to two districts Balaghat and Mandla which border Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. The State Police have been instructed to have co-ordination with their counterparts. Greater emphasis has been put on modernization of police force. They have been equipped with modern gadgets such as trackers, GPS, drones, trap cameras, body protective armours and jungle terrain vehicles.

He called for the need of coupling technologies with Human Intelligence. A Special Intelligence Branch has been created exclusively for Naxalite affected areas.

Kamal Nath pointed out that poor connectivity is the main issue which hampers collection and sharing of information. He requested the Government of India to making provision of at least 4G connectivity in Balaghat and Mandla districts of the State. He said that communication network in Naxalite affected areas are heavily dependent on Police wireless due to poor Telephone and Mobile network coverage. 50% of tribal blocks have only 2G connectivity. He also requested for sanctioning of rupees 33.74 crores for which the proposal and DPR has been submitted to central government under PMGY for constructions of two roads and one bridge in Balaghat and two roads and three bridges in Mandla districts. He also requested for early sanctioning of funds for the years 2019-20 for setting up of Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) in one block in Balaghat(Birsa) and four blocks in Mandla (Mainpur, Beejadandi, Mawai and Mohgaon).

Kamal Nath expressed for the need of Financial Inclusion of the citizens. He said presently there are 6.6 bank branches per lakh of population in Balaghat and Mandla against the state average of 10.58; while area per bank branch is approx. 102.5 sq.km. against the state average of 49 sq.km. To deal with such a situation, the State Government has launched a financial literacy campaign on World Tribal Day this year 89 tribal blocks of the State from 16th August 2019 to 15th September 2019. About 30 financial literacy camps will be organised during this period in each tribal block including 12 tribal blocks of Mandla and Balaghat districts.

Kamal Nath informed that the Government is committed to protecting the right of tribals.

Out of 6.26 lakh patta claim applications received, rights have been given in 2.66 lakh cases. Instructions have been given to review all the 3.66 lakh applications which were rejected largely due to incomplete documentation. He informed that 'Van Mitra' portal has been started for comprehensive, transparent and speedy disposal of all 3.6 lakh rejected claims in all district of the state.