'75 fortified police stations in lWE pockets to be built by Dec'

The construction work of 75 fortified police stations in the left Wing Extremism (lWE) areas of Chhattisgarh would be completed by December-end this year.This was informed by Managing Director of Chhattisgarh Police Housing Corporation D M Awasthi to State Home Minister Ramsevak Paikara at the Mantralaya here on Friday.

The Minister was reviewing the status of various projects taken up by the Police Housing Corporation.Paikara asked the officials attending the meeting to ensure protection to the people working on various projects in the lWE areas.Awasthi informed the Minister that a total of 25 fortified police stations had already been constructed in the lWE pockets and the work is nearly under completion in another 15 police stations.

He informed that construction work is underway in 34 fortified police stations.Awasthi also informed that out of the 53 police stations approved in Chhattisgarh under Police Modernisation Scheme,  work had been completed in 19 police stations and work is under progress in another 31 police stations.

The tendering process for rest of the three police stations had been completed and work would start for the same at the earliest, he said.Moreover, out of the 21 police stations approved by the State government, the construction work had been completed for six police stations and work is underway in the rest of 15 police stations.

The meeting was attended by State Director General of Police A N Upadhyaya, Director General ( Jails) Girdhari Nayak, Chairman of Chhattisgarh Police Housing Corporation W A Ansari, Additional Director General of Police Sanjay Pillai and Home Secretary Ashok Juneja. It may be recalled that the Centre released a total sum of Rs 75.20 crores between 2010 to 2013 for a scheme for strengthening and strengthening fortification of police stations in the left Wing Extremism (lWE) pockets of Chhattisagrh as per the statistics available with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

Nationally, under the scheme, a total of 400 police stations and outposts are to be constructed in the 10 lWE affected states at the rate of Rs 2 crore per police station, it stated.Eighty per cent of the cost of the project is being met by the Centre while 20 per cent is being met by the concerned State government.

During the period, Odhisha received sum of Rs 112 crores under the scheme while Jharkhand received Rs 97.50 crores.As many as 259 battalions of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) 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 CAPFs 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, officials stated.

Chhattisgarh stands fourth in the country in terms of the number of districts affected by left Wing Extremism (lWE), they stated.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,- both 8 each,  West Bengal and Maharashtra,- both 4 each, Uttar Pradesh,- 3 and Madhya Pradesh, one.

 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, officials stated. Moreover, the the Central government has approved a revised cost of Rs 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 has 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 km 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-hit 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 Rs 190 crore was made from 2010-11 to 2014-15 upto February 28, 2015.

Notably, last year, the Central Government had 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.