Naxal watch: PC to visit Maha, Chhattisgarh soon

Continuing the home ministry's close monitoring of the naxal situation, home minister P Chidambaram will visit Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh next week for an on-the-spot review and press for better coordination among security forces.

Continuing the home ministry's close monitoring of the naxal situation, home minister P Chidambaram will visit Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh next week for an on-the-spot review and press for better coordination among security forces.

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Chidambaram, who had recently visited Orissa and Jharkhand as a part of this exercise, is also expected to stress on improvements in implementation of development schemes, particularly in districts covered by the government's integrated action plan.

An informal review of the naxal situation by the security establishment recently had thrown up some surprises. It indicated West Bengal and Bihar, which were believed to be falling behind, were doing better than expected. "In both these states, the political leadership is travelling in the interiors… things like these address the political vacuum in naxal-affected areas," a government official said, referring to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's seva yatra and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's rally in Jungalmahal.

Home secretary RK Singh had visited Bihar last week.

This year, naxal violence has been reported in areas under 270 police stations in 64 districts in eight states. There have been around 850 incidents (1,025 last year), resulting in around 300 deaths (473 last year).