State Home Minister Ramsevak Paikra on Friday told the newly-appointed Special DGP Anti-naxal operations DM Awasthi to intensify exercise for bringing about a complete end of left Wing Extremism (lWE) in Chhattisgarh.
The Minister directed that an effective strategy should be devised and intense anti-naxal operation should be conducted to uproot lWE from State. The Home Minister issued these directives during his meeting with the Special DGP who called on the former at his residence on Friday here.
Paikra said that the security personnel on Naxal front are ready to face any challenge. Both the Central Government and Chhattisgarh Government are making joint efforts to end Naxalism in the State.
During the meeting, Awasthi told the Home Minister that he had recently visited Naxal-affected areas. He also told the Home Minister about the four new battalions of paramilitary forces had been approved by Central Government for Chhattisgarh.
Notably, the Union Cabinet under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved raising of four ‘India Reserve Battalions’ (IR Bns) for Chhattisgarh State to be deployed in left Wing Extremism (lWE) pockets of the State. The Union Cabinet announced to raise a total of 17 India Reserve Battalions (IR Bns) for Jammu & Kashmir and left Wing Extremism (lWE) affected States, officials stated. It includes five IR Bns in the State of J&K, three IR Bns in Jharkhand, three IR Bns in Odisha and two IR Bns in Maharashtra including four for Chhattisgarh.
The Chhattisgarh government will soon commence work for construction of as many as 92 roads falling in left Wing Extremism (lWE) hit districts of the State. Of the total 153 roads to be constructed in seven lWE districts of Chhattisgarh under ‘Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana’ (PMGSY), tenders have been invited for 92 roads, said an official, adding that the estimated expenditure for construction of these roads would be around `163.17 crores. The tenders had already been awarded for 90 roads, officials stated.
As per information received, Chief Minister Raman Singh had recently reviewed the progress of ongoing preparations to complete the road construction works in a meeting held with Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Ajay Chandrakar and his Department officials.
The meeting was also attended by Additional Chief Secretary (Panchayat and Rural Development) MK Raut. Notably, following the problems being encountered during road construction works in lWE districts, the Chief Minister has sent a proposal to the Centre for re-inviting tenders for construction of 92 PMGSY roads.
It needs to be mentioned that these roads were sanctioned for seven districts of Bastar division between 2001-02 and 2008-09, of which 35 roads were sanctioned for Bastar, Kondagaon (18), Kanker (12), Sukma (8), Nayaranpur (8), Bijapur (7) and Dantewada (4), said officials , adding that administrative approval of `149.66 crore was given for construction the roads.
As of now, `62.25 crore has been spent on construction of 92 roads and remaining works will be carried out with pending amount, the officials informed. Information received from District Collectors of respective districts highlighted that as many as 267 road construction works were sanctioned under PMGSY between 2001-02 and 2008-09, of which 114 road works are in progress while 153 works were hindered due to Naxal problem.
Based on information that 92 pending works could be started again, Chief Minister directed officials of Panchayat and Rural Development to table a proposal for re-inviting the tenders of road works to the Central government. After necessary approvals from the Centre, the Department has floated tenders for road construction works.
Notably, Chhattisgarh is among the seven worst left Wing Extremism (lWE) states which been allocated Rs 228.56 crore as Additional Central Assistance (ACA) by Union Ministry of Home Affairs, officials stated. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had approved the State-wise allocation of Additional Central Assistance of `1,000 crores to 35 worst lWE affected districts in seven states.
Out of these 35 districts, there are 16 lWE affected districts in Jharkhand, 8 in Chhattisgarh, 6 in Bihar, 2 in Odisha and one each in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.