The Chhattisgarh Government has decided to build multi-storey barracks for the Special Task Force (STF) troopers in the insurgency-hit Sukma district in Bastar division of the State.
“The barracks would help accommodate more troopers sent for Anti-Naxal operations in the district,” officials stated.
Chhattisgarh Home Department has approved `286.22 crore in 2014-15 for construction of various offices and residential quarters besides other infrastructural development of police establishments.
Moreover, `150 crores have been approved for construction and renovation of buildings of 75 police stations in insurgency infested districts of the State. Construction of three buildings have already been completed and handed over to Police Department. Six other buildings are nearing completion, while construction of remaining 66 buildings is in process, officials stated.
For infrastructural development in Police Department, the Home Department has approved `22 crores for construction of Armoury and magazine building, purchase of weaponry, telecommunication and security equipments.
An amount of `7.91 crores has been approved for offices and administrative buildings of various battalions. This includes Second Battalion based in Sakri (Bilaspur), Seventh Battalion based in Bhilai, 17th Battalion based in Kabeerdham and 18th Battalion based in Manendragarh.
The Department has approved `1.98 crore for each battalion. An amount of `1.75 crore have been approved for construction of multi-storey barracks in Fourth Battalion based at Mana.
Other than offices and administrative buildings, the Home Department is also paying attention on facilitation of residential quarters for officials-employees. Police Department has approved `40.16 crore for construction of residential buildings for officials and employees (including 200 non-gazetted and 304 constables) posted in various Battalions, based at Raipur, Koriya, Dhamtari, Janjgir-Champa, Mahasamund and Raigarh. Besides, `62.50 crore have been provisioned in previous fiscal year for construction of residential quarters of 144 non-gazetted and 676 constables in various districts of the State.
Moreover, `1.72 crore have been approved for construction of Shaheed Vatika in Rajeev Smriti Van of Raipur. The State Government has approved `10.50 lakh for various administrative residential buildings in Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College, under 13th Finance Commission.
The Chhattisgarh Government is in the process of installing Solar Photo Voltaic Power Plant (SPVPP) of 2 KV capacity each in the police stations and base camps in insurgency infested districts of Bastar region.
The Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Agency (CREDA) has already floated tenders for supply of equipment for the solar power plants, officials stated.
“CREDA had already established solar energy equipment in different police stations and base camps in the insurgency hit Kanker district,” officials stated.
The installed equipment ensures uninterrupted power supply in the hinterland. The base camps and police stations located in regions like Pakhanjur, Koylibeda, Durgkondal and Antagarh now have solar energy equipment installed in the district.
lighting through solar lamps help police personnel and make it easy to counter the Maoists during an attack. In case of a black out or fault in power supply lines, solar lighting arrangements help in the restive regions.
Moreover, as many as 259 battalions of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) are currently deployed in Chhattisgarh’s left Wing Extremism (lWE)-affected regions.
The deployment in other states is as follows- Andhra Pradesh ( 16), Telangana ( 12), Bihar (57), Chhattisagrh ( 259), Jharkhand ( 144), Madhya Pradesh ( 8), Maharashtra (34), Odisha ( 102), Uttar Pradesh ( 6), West Bengal (53).
Presently, a total of 691 battalions of CAPF are deployed across the country in lWE areas, officials stated.
Deployment of CAPFs is a dynamic process and keeps on changing from time to time depending upon the requirements projected by the State as well as demands of other lWE affected states, availability of force and security situation in the particular State, they stated.
Chhattisgarh stands fourth in the country in terms of the number of districts affected by left Wing Extremism (lWE).
A total of 106 districts in the States are considered as left Wing Extremism (lWE) affected. Of these, Bihar has maximum 22 districts, followed by Jharkhand (21), Odisha(19), Chhattisgarh (16), Andhra Pradesh and Telangana — 8 in each, West Bengal and Maharashtra — 4 in both, Uttar Pradesh — 3 and one in Madhya Pradesh.
It is clear that number of districts which witnessed some form of lWE activities have been decreasing, as it was informed in the Rajya Sabha
Apart from the above, it is worth mentioning that the numbers of incidents of lWE violence and resultant deaths have also significantly declined during the last four years from 2011 to 2014.
The Central Government has revised the guidelines for ‘Surrender-cum-Rehabilitation Scheme of left Wing Extremists in the affected States’ with effect from April 1, 2013.
As per the revised policy, the Central Government provides reimbursement of expenditure incurred on an immediate grant for surrendered lWE cadres subject to a ceiling of Rs. 2.5 lakh for higher ranked lWE cadres and `1.5 lakh for middle/lower ranked lWE cadres.
The additional incentives given for surrender of weapons/ ammunition is also reimbursed which ranges from `10,000 to Rs 35000 per weapon depending on type of weapon surrendered from detonator to light Machine Gun, Rocket launcher etc.
In addition, the monthly stipend paid to the surrenderee while undergoing vocational training is also reimbursed subject to the ceiling of `4000 per month per surrenderee for a maximum period of 36 months. The revised policy envisages formation of the Screening-cum-Rehabilitation Committees by the State Governments which are involved in the process of identification and rehabilitation of surrendered lWE cadres.
Significantly, on March 20 this year, the Central Government had approved a revised cost of `3045 crore under its Road Requirement Plan (RRP) for improvement of road connectivity in left Wing Extremism (lWE) affected areas of Chhattisgarh.
Overall, the Centre had approved a Road Requirement Plan (RRP) for improvement of road connectivity in left Wing Extremism (lWE) affected areas of a total of 34 Districts in 8 States covering 5477 km length (1126 km NHs & 4351 kms State Roads.
In Chhattisgarh, the fund had been approved for improvement of road connectivity in left Wing Extremism (lWE) affected areas measuring 2019 kms .
As per details of Physical Progress achieved as on March 1, 2015 under RRP the length of road completed between 2010-11 to 2014-15 in the insurgency infested areas in Chhattisgarh upto February 28,2015 is 868 kms.
As per the State-wise details of fund allocated and expenditure incurred under lWE scheme, Chhattisgarh an expenditure of `190 crore was made from 2010-11 to 2014-15 upto February 28, 2015.
Notably, last year, the Central Government also simplified the procedure for offering general approval under Section-2 of Central Forest Conservation Act 1980, keeping in view the need of infrastructural development for public utility.
This implied that general approval for construction of roads on forest land in a total of ten left Wing Extremism (lWE) affected districts of Chhattisgarh will now be granted easily, official informed here.
As per the simplified procedure, the general approval for construction of two-lane highways on forest land will be given by State Government itself.
In this context, Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand had issued a circular to Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and Secretaries of all the departments and also to the Divisional Commissioners and District Collectors.
According to the officials, simplification of clearance procedure will largely benefit the areas of 10 lWE affected districts of the State, by expediting construction of roads in Chhattisgarh and connecting it to mainstream development.
The 10 lWE affected districts include Bastar (Jagdalpur), Bijapur, Dantewada, Kanker, Narayanpur, Jashpur, Kabeerdham (Kawardha), Rajnandgaon, Koriya and Surguja. This simplified procedure will also be applicable in the new districts, which have been formed by reorganising the aforementioned old districts.
