The ‘New Andhra Model’ to tackle the banned CPI(Maoist) will be discussed in detail in New Delhi during a meeting convened by Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah, on Sunday. Home Minister M. Sucharitha, Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das and DGP D. Gautam Sawang will be attending the meeting. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy who was scheduled to attend the meeting had to skip due to a sprain in his leg.
Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Sawang said the new Andhra model had been successful in containing the Maoists on the one hand and winning over the tribal people, who had been disillusioned by the propaganda machinery of the left wing extremists (LWE) on the other. “We will be sustaining our operational dominance, an area in which we have been highly successful in the recent times, and at the same time we will extending the development activities to the interior parts of the tribal belt, including in the AOB (Andhra Odisha Border) region,” he said. Chief Ministers, Chief Secretaries and DGPs from 10 LWE-affected States, including A.P., Telangana, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Kerala, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, will be attending the meeting to take stock of the status of the Maoist movement and to know the better practices implemented by each State in tackling the issue. It is learnt that discussion on intelligence sharing and coordination of operation is also on the agenda.
Game-changer
According to Mr. Sawang, distribution of ROFR pattas among tribals was a game changer.
“Tribals are simpletons and giving them pattas is a sea changer, as it generates a sense of ownership,” he said. Apart from operational issues, it is learnt that the focus would be on developmental activity in the tribal areas, where the Moaists have strong presence across all the affected States. This would include plans for roads and cellphone tower connectivity. In A.P., there is a huge change on ground due to the schemes reaching the Adivasis.
