Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday said that about 700 kms of sanctioned roads remain to be completed in Chhattisgarh in addition to the construction of two major bridges. About 900 sites for mobile towers have been finalised and the approximately the same number of sites are still to be finalised, he said. The Chief Minister was attending the meeting convened by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi to review the developmental projects relating to roads, bridges, railway lines, mobile towers, post offices, banking infrastructure, education, health, radio and TV connectivity and forest and environmental clearances in left Wing Extremism affected States of Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Odisha and Maharashtra in New Delhi.
The issue of opening more post offices and banking infrastructure in the lWE affected areas was also highlighted in the meeting. Chief Minister Raman Singh also stressed on the need for installing higher capacity TV / Radio stations including FM Radio stations for better connectivity in the Bastar region. He also highlighted the issue of requirement of more schools with residential facilities in Bastar.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh mentioned that the Bastar region requires special attention for early completion of developmental projects and a coordinated action for tackling left Wing Extremism problems in the area. He highlighted the long pending problem of Extremism in the area and assured the States of necessary central assistance.
Terming Naxal violence as “the biggest national problem”, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that Central Government is deliberating to take urgent initiatives to uproot left Wing Extremism (lWE) from Bastar region. At the meeting, Chief Minister Raman Singh emphasized on the need for collective effort by lWE affected states to fight the menace.
Singh stressed on adopting a strategy of coordination. The Chief Minister also insisted upon the need for overall development of Bastar region to counter Naxal menace. Chief Minister Raman Singh said that it is necessary to ensure development of roads, telecommunication and electricity in Bastar. On the demand made by the Chief Minister, Union Human Resources and Development Minister Smriti Irani sanctioned opening of 500-seater hostel in model schools, upgrading POTA cabin schools from 8th class to 10th class and establishing residential ashram hostels in 11 development blocks of Sukma, Bijapur and Dantewada districts.
Drawing the Union Home Minister’s attention towards delay in construction work of roads and railways, Singh said that construction work should be expedited to connect Bastar from the mainstream. During the meeting, the Union Home Minister said that UAV base camp in Bhilai would be functional from February 28.
On the demands of Chief Minister Raman Singh to open one post office and a bank in each Panchayat in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, the Union Home Minister issued instructions to officials of the Ministry concerned. Union Telecom Minister assured Chief Minister Raman Singh that local people from the area will be recruited for the proposed post offices.
The Chief Minister demanded that environment clearance should be increased from 5 hectare to 40 hectares for carrying out development projects in the lWE affected regions. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also directed senior Railways Officials to ensure commencement of construction work of railway track from Rowghat to Jagdalpur and expedite the construction work for laying tracks from Dillirajhara to Rowghat.
It was also agreed in the meeting that the lWE affected States in general and Bastar region in particular required special assistance from the Centre and the Government of India may consider necessary relaxations in the policies and schemes for the development of these areas. The meeting was attended by Union Home Secretary, l.C. Goyal, Secretaries and senior officers from the Ministries of Home, Finance, Railways, Human Resource Development, Health, Information Technology, Information & Broadcasting and Environment & Forests. The representatives of Central Armed Police Forces and Security Agencies were also present.
It may be recalled that Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari had convened a meeting on developing roads in the left Wing Extremism (lWE) areas on January 13 in Naya Raipur. Gadkari had made the in the meeting announcement to carry out construction of roads and bridges in the left Wing Extremism (lWE) areas on Mission Mode with Precast and other advance technologies with assistance from Military Engineering Services (MES) and DRDO.
He had stated that local contractors would also be engaged for construction of roads and other development works in violence-hit pockets. He had reviewed the progress of road infrastructure works in insurgency-hit eight states and heaped praise on security forces and construction agencies for executing the key road projects in red zones despite all odds.
The Union Miniter had told the delegates at the review meet that around 75 per cent of the Naxal problem could be solved if a network of road and bridges is developed in insurgency-hit areas. He had emphasized on using latest technology in road construction work and insisted that roads laying projects should be completed in a time-bound manner.
In the meeting, a presentation on centrally-funded road projects in lWE affected areas of various states was screened. It was informed that the first phase of Road Requirement Plan (RRP) includes the proposal for repairing and upgrading 5477 kms of roads in 34 districts at the cost of nearly Rs 7,300 crores. Out of the 5,469 kms of road approved, construction of 3,308 kms has been completed. In Chhattisgarh, construction of 806 kms (out of the 2019 kms of roads approved) has been completed.
In the meeting, PWD Minister of Uttar Pradesh Surendra Patel, PWD Minister of Madhya Pradesh Sartaj Singh, Chhattisgarh PWD Minister Rajesh Munat, Telangana PWD Minister T Nageshwar, Odisha Forest and Environment Minister Vikram Keshari Arya and Maharashtra PWD Minister Chandrakant Patil had also participated.