With the Union Home Ministry shifting the strategic anti-Naxal operations command headquarters of the CRPF from Kolkata to Raipur, the Chhattisgarh Government now has its plate full of commitments to help launch a decisive strike along with the paramilitary forces against rebels in Bastar.
The Ministry is upset with the number of CRPF and State police casualties that had happened in Sukma district of Bastar in Anti-Naxal operations during the past two years, official sources informed.
The newly appointed CRPF Director General Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar had already been asked by the Union Home Ministry to ensure that the command begins functioning from Raipur before the high-level meeting of lWE hit States in New Delhi scheduled on Monday.
Notably, Chhattisgarh is also one of the eight States which had recently requested the Union Home Ministry for waiving off cost of charges towards deployment of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPFs) in the red zones of the State, the Central Government had informed.
Requests were received in the Union Ministry of Home Affairs from the State Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Telangana, Uttarakhand and West Bengal for waiving off cost of deployment charges towards deployment of CAPFs in their states, which were turned down.
Notably, 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 country are considered as left Wing Extremism (lWE) affected. Of these, Bihar State 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 although significantly declined during the last four years from 2011 to 2014, officials stated.
Maoist activities decreased in all the states except Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh with number of incidents rising to 42 per cent, observes the annual report of the Union Ministry of Home for 2015-16.
The report mentioned that the rise in incidents had been due to conduct of Panchayat polls in January-February month in 2015-16 in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region.
It further mentioned that the Dandakarnya region in South Chhattisgarh had been the nucleus of Maoist activities.
A meeting of all insurgency-hit states will be held on Monday (May 8) in New Delhi to look at ways of rooting out left Wing Extremism (lWE), Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had stated on his visit to Raipur on April 25, in the aftermath of 25 CRPF troopers getting martyred in Sukma.
"We will review the strategy and if necessary we will revisit it," he had told reporters after paying homage to the CRPF personnel killed in yesterdays ambush in Sukma district. The Government will review its strategy to battle Naxalites, he said a day after armed guerrillas killed 25 CRPF personnel in Chhattisgarh.
"We are working to root out the problem of left Wing Extremism," he stressed.
Singh said the attack was a cold blooded murder and an act of cowardice and desperation.
"We have accepted it as a challenge," he said.
The Minister said the lWE groups were anti-development and sought to destabilise development in the state.
The Home minister added Maoists were using tribals as fodder.
"They are being used as human shields," he said.
It may be recalled that the Central government has also decided to upgrade the government multi-specialty hospital at Jagdalpur in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh.
A decision to this effect was taken in a review meeting of the progress of work in left Wing Insurgency (lWE) states chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on June 24, last year, officials informed.
Other issues such as installation of mobile towers in grey areas, increasing the reach of networks of DD and AIR, improvement in programmes, expansion of railway lines, banking & postal services were also discussed in detail.
The officials of concerned Union Ministries and Chief Secretaries of the seven lWE-affected states participated in the meeting.
Addressing the meeting, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh stated that progress in development works has picked up during the last two years, and extended his congratulations to the states and the concerned central ministries.
He stressed upon the need to build upon this progress further, and finish the projects in hand at an even quicker pace, so that the people living in these areas are benefitted and get access to services and facilities at par with other parts of the country.
The Home Minister also noted that deaths due to lWE incidents had declined by 42% in the year 2015 as compared to the year 2013.
Progress of different projects was thereafter reviewed and discussed with the Secretaries of the Central Ministries of Railways, Road Transport and Highways, Environment, Forests & Climate Change, Post, Information & Broadcasting, Communication & IT, Finance, Health & Family Welfare and Human Resource Development.
The Chief Secretaries from the States of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Telengana and Maharashtra also participated.
During the meeting, special projects such as construction of roads both RRP-I & II, installation of mobile towers, development measures such as schools with hostel facility, Kendriya Vidyalayas/Navodaya Vidyalayas in the worst affected districts were discussed threadbare.
The Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi asked the Ministries to look into different eligibility norms realistically and alter them suitably, if need be after getting necessary approvals, in view of the extreme necessity.
Jaideep Govind, Additional Secretary (lWE) and other senior officers of Ministry of Home Affairs were also present.
Notably, the Bastar Battalion of CRPF is being raised by recruiting 744 Scheduled Tribe (ST) youths from four insurgency infested districts of Bastar in Chhattisgarh, the Central government has informed.
The districts from where the tribal youths would be recruited for the new Battalion are -- Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur and Sukma.
The decision to set up a Tribal Battalion has been taken with a view to give more employment to the tribal youth keeping in mind their unique characteristics.
Notably, the Chhattisgarh Police Housing Corporation (CPHC) is going to play a significant role in the development of a new 100 Bed super speciality hospital in Jagdalpur under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Model.
The hospital when ready would also meet the medical needs of the government employees in Bastar and the public at large, officials stated.
In order to develop the hospital, the State government has decided to do it through its own subsidiary, the Chhattisgarh Police Housing Corporation.
Notably, Chhattisgarh is one of the newly formed states, formed in 2000. It had inherited a weak infrastructure base in both the physical and social sectors. It had genuine constraints like a weak health infrastructure and depleted human resources for healthcare, apart from many of its areas being affected by left Wing Extremism. All this combined to weak health indicators, officials stated.
Many of the basic determinants of health like water, sanitation, and overall healthcare supply were also weak. Although there were a lot of gaps in the state’s healthcare system, the political and administrative leadership of the state nevertheless identified health as one of the priorities right from the beginning and this path has resulted in many remarkable achievements.
There is a large presence of security forces in the Bastar region of the State, which is at the heart of the lWE problem. There are over 22,000 state police personnel in the 8 lWE affected districts of Bastar and the neighbouring district of Rajnandgaon.
In addition, there are almost 45,000 personnel belonging to the Central Armed Police Focres (CAPFs) such as the CRPF, BSF, ITBP & SSB. In view of the ongoing anti-lWE operations which are going on on a continuing basis, there are daily occurrences of injuries to security personnel.
These can be both minor and major, often requiring immediate medical attention. In fact, in case of any complications, there is a necessity to transport the injured personnel to Raipur (which is over 300 kms away from most incidents) to provide medical care. Often, security personnel lose lives or limbs as a result of the delay in transit.
Keeping in view the limited medical facilities in Jagdalpur, which is the headquarters of Bastar Division, and the need to provide advanced and appropriate medical care in Jagdalpur itself, the Government of Chhattisgarh took a decision to develop a hospital a 100 Bed hospital in Jagdalpur, along with a Trauma Center, officials stated.
Development of such a 100 Bed facility in Jagdalpur will have multiple benefits. It will not only cater to the security forces’ requirements but also address the unmet healthcare needs of the local population living in these areas. The facility to be set up should be equipped to cater to all the secondary level healthcare requirements of the population in vicinity with a special focus on curative and rehabilitative treatments related to accidents and trauma cases like bullet injuries, splinter injuries and injuries due to explosions and blasts.
This state of art facility should also be equipped to cater to special needs of psychological and psychiatric care of personnel operating under stressed and challenging conditions.
It is envisaged that such a development initiative in this conflict affected region will not only boost the morale of security forces deployed in such areas but shall also improve the condition of healthcare of the tribal population substantially, thus creating a positive environment for peace.