Andhra Pradesh has requested the Centre to include seven more districts bordering extremist-affected areas of neighbouring States of Maharashtra, Orissa and Chhattisgarh under the Special Development Plan (SDP) for taking up various activities.
The centre had included only Khammam (bordering Chhattisgarh) under the SDP. “We are hopeful of Centre acceding to our demand, Chief Minister K. Rosaiah said here on Thursday. The State government suggested to the Centre to include Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts in the SDP. A government delegation would soon meet the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram in this regard.
He was addressing police officers here on occasion of Police Commemoration Day. He maintained that the government's approach of tackling the Maoist problem from socio-economic angle rather than merely law and order point of view had led to downfall of Left wing extremist activity in the State. He paid glowing tributes to policemen who died on duty.
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Responding to the DGP K. Aravinda Rao's complaint that the government had not released funds for taking up repairs of police quarters, Mr. Rosaiah said he would direct the Finance Department to release budget for police welfare. Earlier, the DGP complained that during the last year's commemoration parade, the government had promised funds, but they were not released.
The DGP, Mr. Rao also requested the government to sanction funds for taking up regular health check-ups of police personnel pointing out that officers and men in the age group of 40-45 years were susceptible to many diseases.
The police quarters were in bad shape and there was an urgent need to allocate funds for carrying out repairs. Mr. Rao requested the government to sanction Rs. 20 crore additionally for the purpose. While 797 policemen, including five from Andhra Pradesh, died in different parts of the country in the past one year, 593 policemen died of left wing extremis in the last 40 years in the State.
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Tributes were paid to Superintendent of Police, A.S.C. Wesley, chief security officer to Chief Minister, and constables, E. Ramesh, U. Ramesh, Shaik Mohammed and J. Suresh, who died while being on duty in past one year.
Tributes
Indian Police Service officer trainees and the staff of the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy presented arms at the Police Martyr's Memorial on the academy premises on Thursday, observing Police Commemoration Day. Paying tributes to policemen who laid down their lives while being on duty, the Roll of Honour was read, a press release said. The Academy in-charge Director, C. Balasubramanian, and other officials placed wreaths on the cenotaph at the Memorial.