Govt meets MPs of 33 Naxal-hit districts

New Delhi: The government has convened a meeting of MPs belonging to 33 worst Naxal-affected districts tomorrow to apprise them about its strategy to deal with Maoists and seek their cooperation in the endeavour.

Home Minister P Chidambaram and top Home Ministry officials will brief the MPs about the gravity of the Maoist problem, their activities and the steps being taken by government to deal with the menace.

During the interaction, government will also brief the Parliamentarians on the developmental works being carried out in these 33 districts and seek their full cooperation for government action.

"The meeting is part of the government's larger strategy to deal with the Maoists, considering the gravity of the problem," an official said.

Chidambaram is expected to draw attention of the MPs to anti-development activities of Naxalites as they have been destroying school buildings, roads and telephone towers among others.

Of the 33 districts, 10 are in Jharkhand, seven in Chhattisgarh, six in Bihar, five in Orissa, two in Maharashtra, one each in Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

All these districts are underdeveloped and authorities believe that economic backwardness drive many local people of these regions to join the Maoist ranks, the official said.

The meeting in the wake of the killing of 76 security personnel by the Maoists in Chhattisgarh.

Government has taken these 33 districts as focus districts to root out the menace from there and subsequently carry out developmental activities.

On April 13, the 11th meeting of the Task Force headed by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar reviewed the development projects being undertaken in these 33 Naxal-hit districts.

The meeting took stock of the progress made in implementation of Forest Rights Act which will benefit ST and and other traditional forest dwellers, NREGA, National Rural Health Mission and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.

Chief secretaries of seven extremism-hit states also had participated the April 13 meeting through video conferencing.

It also reviewed the action taken for implementation of various schemes under Integrated Child Development Services, Drinking Water Supply, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Mid-Day Meal Scheme, Targeted Public Distribution System besides others.