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10 states to join meeting on left wing extremism with Amit Shah today
Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren reached New Delhi on Saturday with top officials to attend the left wing extremism meeting to be chaired by Amit Shah
Chief ministers from 10 states or their representatives will attend the meeting chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah on left wing extremism at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi on Sunday, people aware of the development said, adding the states will give their feedback on the existing situation on the ground and raise the developmental activities that should be carried out.
The meeting comes in wake of the home ministry reducing the number of left wing extremist affected districts to 70 from over 100 three years ago, with maximum increase in the fall in Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand. The MHA had also said there was a drop of 47% in Maoist related incidents since 2014, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government came to power.
The CMs are also likely to discuss on how to reduce Maoist influence further, focusing on security enhancement and pushing infrastructure development in the Naxal-hit areas. As per the meeting agenda shared with the states, the meeting will be held in two sessions---first on security enhancement measures and the second on development projects.
Intensifying operations against LWE, filling up the security vacuum, action against front organisations, choking flow of funds to banned Communist Party of India (Maoists) through concerned action by state police, ED and NIA, focused investigation and prosecution of cases, coordination among states besides capacity building in terms of intelligence, special forces of states and fortified police stations are listed among the major talking points on security front, people cited above said.
On the development front, the main agenda of discussion will include strengthening road connectivity both by the ministry of transport and highways and ministry of rural development, widening the coverage of mobile and postal service by the department of telecommunication and department of posts, besides speedy implementation of the ongoing construction of Eklavya Schools---residential schools for students from the scheduled tribe category---in the tribal areas by the tribal affairs ministry, according to the agenda.
Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren reached New Delhi on Saturday with top officials to attend the LWE meeting to be chaired by Shah.
Earlier this week, Soren held a review meeting with the concerned departments over the prevailing situation in the state in terms of anti-Naxal operations and allied work. The state DGP had made a presentation before the CM about the security related issues.
“In terms of the presence of the Naxals in the state, it’s largely localised in three major pockets. It includes Parasnath hills in Giridih, Saranda forest area in Kolhan and Burha Pahar in Garhwa district bordering Chhattisgarh. The state government would raise the issue of more co operation from Chhattisgarh government in dealing the menace in Bitha Pahar as it shares borders with the northern part of Chhattisgarh. This area is not on priority of the Chhattisgarh government as the Naxals strategically don’t do any activity on Chhattisgarh side of Burha Pahar,” said a senior official in Jharkhand government, requesting anonymity.
The official said the chief minister would also raise the issue of pressure bombs being the preferred mode of Maoists in harming the security forces than their previous medium on targeting the force on main roads through mines. “Now the security forces prefer to patrol on foot so the Naxals are using pressure bombs planted in the forest to target the force,” the official added.
On the development side, Soren is likely to raise the issue of relaxing norms for the Eklavya Schools, besides requesting strengthening of the rural roads that would help in better movement of forces, the official said.
Top police officials in Chhattisgarh said the issue of filling up the security vacuum in the Maoist-affected districts will be discussed in the meeting scheduled by the MHA on Sunday.
“Since the number of proposed camps in Chhattisgarh is still to be set up by the state government, the MHA will be surely instructing the state government to speed up the works of comp establishment in Maoist affected districts of the state,” said a senior IPS officer of Chhattisgarh.
The officer further said the progress of roads in Maoist-affected districts of the state is also not satisfactory, which will surely be addressed in the meeting.
“Other issued which will be taken up by the union government include – more aggressive operations in core Maoist areas, which is matter of concern for the Union government,” said the officer.
The number of districts affected by left-wing extremism (LWE) has declined sharply to 70 in 10 states for the first time in over three decades, with Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand showing the biggest improvement, according to a map of the Maoist insurgency redrawn by the ministry of home affairs.
Only 25 districts in eight states are now categorised as ‘most affected’, while Uttar Pradesh is now free of Maoism, according to the MHA’s revised list.
