Lack of basic facilities, which provides the ground for growth of naxalism in the region, is still a major grouse of the people in the remote villages of the Western Ghats. Their demands include title deeds for poor people, motorable roads, footbridges, and houses for landless people. Some blame the apathy and slow response of authorities to any problem.
Sources in the Police Department told The Hindu that naxalite-affected areas in Udupi district are under the jurisdiction of Kollur, Amasebail, Shankarnarayana, Hebri, Ajekar, and Karkala Rural police stations.
Member of the State Executive Committee of the Communist Party of India (CPI) Radha Sundaresh told The Hindu that unemployed youth became desperate and were frustrated with corruption prevailing everywhere. “They lose confidence in the system and get attracted to naxal ideology. Most of these youth are educated. It is necessary to generate jobs. They need to be told that problems can be solved through ballot and not bullet. The funds released under the naxalite area development package have not reached the intended beneficiaries”, she says.
To regain the confidence of the people, the district administration and the police hold mass contact programmes in naxalite affected villages.
According to the Udupi Zilla Panchayat, under the Remote and Interior Area Development Programme, the Government provided special grants of Rs. 1 crore in 2005-06, Rs. 1.3 crore in 2006-07, Rs. 1.5 crore in 2007-08, for 14 naxalite-affected gram panchayats in the district, seven each in Kundapur and Karkala taluks. As many as 112 footbridges were built in these 14 gram panchayats at a cost of Rs. 2.34 crore under the Western Ghat Development Scheme in 2009-10.
