Bihar government has sought the inclusion of four more naxalite-hit districts under the security related expenditure (SRE) to be reimbursed by the Centre.
“Apart from the 15 districts out of a total of 38 covered under the scheme at present, four more districts affected hit by naxalism require SRE assistance,” IG (Operations) S K Bhardwaj said on Friday.
The State government’s initiative comes in the wake of Centre’s directive to pay special attention to contain growing naxal activities.
Under the SRE scheme, the expenditure incurred on security is reimbursed by the Centre. Notably, naxalites have made their presence felt in 31 districts of the State.
The state government had earlier proposed the inclusion of four districts- Lakhisarai, Munger, Buxar and Sheikhpura- in the SRE scheme. The Centre however, decided to cover only Munger, Bhardwaj said.
“We have submitted a fresh proposal to this effect and added Saharsa in the list of districts to be covered under the SRE,” official sources said.
Bhardwaj, also in-charge of anti-naxal cell in the state police headquarters, said that two of the three proposed India Reserve (IR) battalions have been made operational and the process of land acquisition for the third IR battalion at Valmikinagar in West Champaran district (close to Indo-Nepal border) was underway.
