Chhattisgarh will get Rs. 130 crore from the Centre for strengthening over 60 police stations in its Naxal—affected districts, officials said here on Thursday.
A decision in this regard was taken in New Delhi on Wednesday at a meeting of Chief Ministers of Naxal—affected States, which was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, they said.
The meeting cleared the governments’ proposal to fund the establishment and strengthening of 400 police stations in the affected districts at the rate of Rs. two crore per police station on 80:20 basis over a period of two years.
Officials said Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh had demanded quick sanction of the fund and appealed to the Prime Minister to give his nod for immediate induction of 3,000 Special Police Officers (SPOs) in the State.
Mr. Singh had also raised the issue of utilisation of eight per cent of forest land in the tribal State for building schools and health centres for adivasis.
Eight per cent of the total 44 per cent forest land in Chhattisgarh is covered by shrubs and bushes and cannot be classified under forest land, and hence it should be put to better use by building infrastructure for development of tribals, he had stated.
The Chief Minister had emphasised on the need for a provision to contribute 10 per cent of the revenue of public sector units in the State to local area fund to promote holistic development of the region.
