The Sukma administration in Chattisgarh has flagged to the Home Ministry that half the village panchayats are “no-go areas” due to security concerns.
The Centre has been informed that there is no government presence in 73 of the 145 gram panchayats.
NITI Aayog project
Sukma, one of the 115 “aspirational districts” selected by the NITI Aayog for transforming the health and social indicators, is among the worst of the Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected areas.
Ten districts of Chattisgarh are being covered under the programme, of which nine face LWE.
Last week, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh presided over a meeting in Raipur to discuss the project.
Sukma Collector Jai Prakash Maurya told The Hindu that security was the only issue in his district. “My district is the worst-affected and without security, we cannot do any construction or development work. There are around 15,000 security personnel deployed here,” he said.
No roads, electrification
The Home Ministry was also informed that there were at least 220 roads in Sukma, sanctioned by the State, where no construction could take place.
“The same is the case with rural electrification. There are around 28,000 households that are yet to be connected to the electricity grid,” the Ministry was informed.
Mr. Maurya said he had sent a proposal to the State government to reopen around 120 schools that have remained shut for more than a decade.
“During the interaction [with the Home Minister], the success achieved in aggressive operations in the core area of the CPI (Maoist) was highlighted. The security grid has been stabilised and deployments have been extended to no-go areas. Significant inter-State cooperation has resulted in numerous successful operations, particularly with Telangana, and there has been a perceptible improvement in the coordination between the State police and Central forces,” said a note prepared by the Home Ministry after Mr. Singh’s meeting.
