New Delhi: The government has convened a
meeting of MPs belonging to 33 worst Naxal-affected districts
on Friday to apprise them about its strategy to deal with
Maoists and seek their cooperation in the endeavour.
Home Minister P Chidambaram and top Home Ministry
officials will brief the MPs about the gravity of the Maoist
problem, their activities and the steps being taken by
government to deal with the menace.
During the interaction, government will also brief the
Parliamentarians on the developmental works being carried out
in these 33 districts and seek their full cooperation for
government action.
"The meeting is part of the government`s larger strategy
to deal with the Maoists, considering the gravity of the
problem," an official said.
Chidambaram is expected to draw attention of the MPs to
anti-development activities of Naxalites as they have been
destroying school buildings, roads and telephone towers among
others.
Of the 33 districts, 10 are in Jharkhand, seven in
Chhattisgarh, six in Bihar, five in Orissa, two in
Maharashtra, one each in Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and
Madhya Pradesh.
All these districts are underdeveloped and authorities
believe that economic backwardness drive many local people of
these regions to join the Maoist ranks, the official said.
The meeting in the wake of the killing of 76
security personnel by the Maoists in Chhattisgarh.
Government has taken these 33 districts as focus
districts to root out the menace from there and subsequently
carry out developmental activities.
On April 13, the 11th meeting of the Task Force headed by
Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar reviewed the development
projects being undertaken in these 33 Naxal-hit districts.
The meeting took stock of the progress made in
implementation of Forest Rights Act which will benefit ST and
and other traditional forest dwellers, NREGA, National Rural
Health Mission and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.
Chief secretaries of seven extremism-hit states also had
participated the April 13 meeting through video conferencing.
It also reviewed the action taken for implementation of
various schemes under Integrated Child Development Services,
Drinking Water Supply, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Mid-Day Meal
Scheme, Targeted Public Distribution System besides others.
PTI
