Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh told federal and state planners that the funds would be spent to rapidly build infrastructure and improve social conditions in the worst-hit districts of the troubled central Indian state.
“We have submitted a scheme totalling INR45.5 billion for seven districts widely affected by left-wing extremism and I hope its sanction will be accorded soon,” he told the National Development Council.
Chhattisgarh says the insurgency has taken roots in 13 of the impoverished state’s 19 districts.
Additional “special assistance should also be made available to the six other districts in affected by the Maoist menace,” the chief minister told the New Delhi meeting attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Some 80 per cent of the state’s 21.7 million population live in abject poverty, according to government figures.
State authorities told AFP in May that up to 1,300 “combat-ready” Maoists were present in Chhattisgarh where they hold sway in 45,000 square kilometres (17,374 square miles) of forests.
The guerrillas in Chhattisgarh have recently killed scores of policemen in some of the revolt-riven districts at the heart of what is known as India’s “Red Corridor.”
Chief minister Singh also accused federal mining firms of siphoning off Chhattisgarh’s minerals without properly compensating the state government and spending on local development.
The insurgency, which first erupted in 1967 in a village and spread now to 20 of India’s 29 states, have been described by Prime Minister Singh as the country’s largest internal security threat.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 25th, 2010.
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