New Delhi: The home ministry has asked Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected states to distribute 15 lakh solar lamps to students in the 35 worst affected districts until all villages are electrified. Till October, 734 Maoist-related incidents were reported across the country and 2017 could be the first time that such incidents have remained below the 1,000 mark, said a senior government official. In 2016, 1048 incidents were reported and 925 were reported till October.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh is learnt to have instructed states to expedite the process of distributing the solar lamps so that students don’t suffer for want of electricity.
The official said though the recruitment by Maoists has seen a declining trend, the government wanted to reach out to the youth in villages.
“There is no electricity in villages in LWE-affected districts. While the electrification work is in progress, it has been decided to address the problem by providing the solar lanterns. They have already been procured and would be distributed by the power ministry,” said the official.
The pilot project will be extended to other areas once the stock has been supplied to the 35 districts. “States have been asked to send their requirements. The next step would be to install television sets. People living in these areas should be exposed to news and entertainment,” said the official.
Home ministry has also decided to link telecom towers with optical fibres as the mobile towers were unable to bear the load of many calls at one time.
Mr. Singh is also said to have asked the states to take “ownership” in leading operations against the Maoists and called for an “aggressive approach” to solve the menace, which has claimed over 12,000 lives in the past decade.
The home ministry has asked Central armed police forces to actively co-ordinate with the states as there was a “need to depute shadow intelligence officers” to track prominent targets associated with LWE. As of now 118 battalions of CAPFs, amounting to a little over a lakh personnel, are posted in LWE-affected states.
The 35 worst LWE-hit districts:
1. Telangana (1): Khammam
2. Bihar (6): Jamui, Gaya, Aurangabad, Rohtas, Jehanabad, Arwal.
3.Chhattisgarh (8): Dantewada, Bastar, Kanker, Surguja, Rajnandgaon, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Sukma.
4. Jharkhand (10): Chatra, West Singhbhum, Palamau, Garhwa, East Singhbhum, Bokaro, Lohardaga, Gumla, Latehar, Hazaribagh.
5. Madhya Pradesh (1): Balaghat.
6. Maharashtra (2): Gadchiroli , Gondia.
7. Orissa (5): Gajapati, Malkangiri, Rayagada, Deogarh, Sambalpur.
8. Uttar Pradesh (1): Sonebhadra.
9. West Bengal (1): Paschim Midnapur.
In these districts, 358 bank branches, 752 ATMs and 1789 new post offices have been sanctioned.
