Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh during his day-long visit to Odisha on Friday appealed to the Maoists to give up arms and join the mainstream.
Singh arrived at the district headquarters town here to review the leftwing extremism (lWE) situation in Koraput and Malkangiri districts.
“I appeal to the Maoists to shun violence and join mainstream. The security personnel are forced to retaliate at them. The Government is ready to hold talks and they should avail the benefits of developmental schemes launched by the Modi Government,” Singh told reporters here after the review meeting.
Singh, who arrived here from Visakhapatnam, assessed the anti-Maoist operations with top officials of the State police, Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and district administrations.
Home Secretary Asit Tripathy, Director General of BSF KK Sharma, DG CRPF K Durga Prasad, DGP KB Singh, IG (Operations) Soumendra Priyadarshi, Director Intelligence Sunil Roy, Additional Director General of Police, Odisha Human Rights Protection Cell Manoj Chhabria, Koraput district Collector Jaya Kumar V and Malkangiri Collector Prashant Kumar Reddy were present in the meeting.
Notably, the Maoist menace in neighbouring Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh and the Andhra-Odisha border area has become a cause of concern as it is apprehended that the members of the outlawed groups may sneak into Odisha.
It may be mentioned that eight BSF Battalions, two battalions of CRPF and one battalion of Cobra forces have been deployed in Koraput district.
In Bhubaneswar, Singh assured of maximum Central help in combating Maoists in the State and added that revival of the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) is under the Central Government’s consideration.
“After reviewing the security situation in Odisha, I can say there is a progressive improvement,” said he.
The Centre had stopped funding several schemes, including the IAP, launched in Maoist-affected areas in 2010-11 for development.
Singh held a review meeting with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar.
Speaking on the State Government’s demands, he said it raised the issue of drought assistance and assured that the sanctioned amount would be provided after the passage of the Supplementary Budget at Parliament.