The Union Government has added Angul and Boudh as Maoist-affected districts, looking at the growing problem of ultras in these areas.
The Maoists are moving out of Chhattisgarh and entering Odisha through borders of Nuapada and Kalahandi and moving through Angul, Boudh and they have turned the areas into a new Red corridor, top cops engaged in anti-Maoist operations revealed.
So both these districts have been listed as Maoist affected districts for pre-emptive and forward looking step to tackle the Red rebels, officials in Department of Home said.
Now these districts will be eligible to received Central Funds for Security-Related Expenditure (SRE) to tackle the Maoist menace.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has recently reviewed SRE districts and out of 126 districts in 10 States including Odisha, the number has reduced to 90 districts.
A recent review on SRE scheme carried out by Union Government revealed that the spread of Maoists in these 36 districts of the country has gone down drastically, so these districts are unlisted as Maoist affected. However, eight new districts in the country have been added to the SRE list, out of which two are in Odisha and three in Kerala, said sources.
Earlier, Odisha was having 19 SRE districts, now it has come down to 15 districts affected by lWEs.
Accordingly with Odisha exhibiting significant improvement in left Wing Extremism (lWE) problems, districts of Dhenkanal, Jajpur, Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Ganjam and Gajapati are removed from SRE list.
Earlier all these six districts were covered under Security Related Expenditure (SRE) districts and now these districts shed lWE tag, sources admitted.
However, the Union Government has not considered the State Government proposal to list Kalahandi as a most Maoist-hit district. Kalahandi is facing a tough time due to Maoist menace and violent incidents relating to ultras rising in the district. So, the State Government had approached the MHA to include the district in the SRE list.
However, Malkangiri and Koraput continue as most Maoist affected among the 30 such districts in the country.
Earlier, there were 35 most Maoist-affected districts in the country, which has been slashed to 30, officials said.
While Maoist menace continues as a concern for the State administration and police, the State Government, meanwhile, is taking proactive steps to fill up vacancies of police personnel in these districts.
Out of a sanctioned strength of over 10, 300 of Inspector of Police to Constables, hardly 1,270 posts are vacant, which will be filled up soon, said officials sources. Odisha has been proactively filling up the vacant posts in these districts, officials informed.