New Delhi: The Home Ministry has asked the directorate of financial service and directorate of post to ensure financial inclusion in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected districts across India.
In a recent meeting held with the officials from the financial and postal services, Praveen Vashista, additional secretary (LWE) in the home ministry directed them to increase the banking as well as postal service in the areas affected with LWE problem.
"A clear road map has been chalked out for financial inclusion by increasing the postal and banking service. It was reiterated in the meeting that such kind of financial inclusion would definitely work against the Naxal propaganda of instigating people against the government," a senior official in the home ministry told ETV Bharat.
Following the meeting, two advisories have also been issued to the state governments, sensitizing them to counter the LWE activities in the affected areas. Quoting the advisories, the official said that emphasis has been given to improve the connectivity and all other facilities in the remote areas where Naxals operate.
“The state governments have been advised to continue both counter Naxal operation as well as developmental activities simultaneously,” the official said. The Government approved a road connectivity project for LWE areas in 2016 for further improving road connectivity, with an estimated expenditure of Rs 11,725 Crore.
“Under the scheme, 12162 km of roads and 705 bridges are sanctioned. The Ministry of Rural Development is the nodal Ministry for this project. The roads included under the scheme have been identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs in consultation with the State Governments and the security agencies. 8998 km of roads and 397 bridge works have been completed till date,” the official said.
The government has also initiated road requirement plan-I (RRP-I) for LWE affected areas. This scheme is being implemented by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways for improving road connectivity in 34 LWE affected districts of 8 States including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.
This scheme envisaged construction of 5,362 km road lengths in LWE affected States, of which 5148 km roads have been completed till date. The meeting that was held at North Block was also attended by officials from intelligence bureau, central paramilitary forces including CRPF, BSF and ITBP.
Emphasise has been given on the civic action programme (CAP) in the LWE areas. This scheme is being implemented as a sub-scheme of the umbrella scheme ‘Modernization of Police Forces’ to bridge the gaps between security forces and local people through personal interaction and bring the human face of SFs before the local population.
Under the scheme, funds are released to the CAPFs, deployed in LWE affected areas, for conducting various civic activities for the welfare of the local people. As on date, Rs 121.32 crore has been released to CAPFs since 2017-18. The official said that importance has also been given to the special infrastructure scheme (SIS).
“This Scheme is being implemented as a sub-scheme of ‘Modernization of Police Forces’. Under the scheme, funds are provided to States for strengthening the infrastructure related to security. Under the scheme projects and works worth Rs 1741 crore have been sanctioned. These sanctioned works include fortified police stations,” the official said.
Under the fortified police stations scheme, at least 606 such police stations have been constructed in LWE affected areas till date in 10 LWE affected States. It is worth mentioning that in order to holistically address the LWE problem in an effective manner, the Government has formulated a national policy and action plan adopting multipronged strategy in the areas of security, development, ensuring rights & entitlement of local communities, etc.
Under the security related expenditure (SRE) scheme, which aims at strengthening the capacity of the LWE affected States to fight the LWE menace effectively, the government has released Rs 2290.65 crore since 2017-18. A scheme named special central assistance (SCA) is also operational for most LWE affected districts. This scheme was approved in 2017 and is being implemented as a sub-scheme of ‘Modernization of Police Forces’.
The main objective of the scheme is to fill the critical gaps in public infrastructure and services in most LWE affected districts, which are of emergent nature. Rs 3449.98 crore have been released to the States since 2017-18 till date.
