RAJINI, KAMAL SHARE STAGE IN CHENNAI
Committee clears funds to tackle leftwing extremism
NEWDELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government will spend over ₹6,000 crore to battle left-wing insurgency (LWE) that has affected at least 10 Indian states, according to documents from the home ministry.
The amountis part of the Centre’s ₹25,000 crore umbrella scheme to modernise the country’s central and state police forces over the next three years.
Earlier this week, the cabinet committee on security cleared the implementation of the Modernisation of state police forces (MPF) umbrella scheme.
Of the ₹6,031 crore to be spent on Left-wing extremism (LWE), roughly ₹5,196 crore would be spent on developing the police, security and public infrastructure in states considered to be most affected by the Maoist movement.
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh come under the list.
Thirty-five districts in these ten states, especially Chhattisg ar hand J hark hand, are considered to be the worst affected.
The centre will fund 80% of the MPF scheme, translating to ₹18,636 crore, while states will pitch in the rest.
According to documents from the home ministry, copies of which are with HT, the government will also provide ₹3,000 crore to build public infrastructure and services, such as schools, anganwadi centers, health centers and roads in the 35 worst LWE-affected districts.
The fund has been broken down into several smaller portions.
One of the major expenses is ₹705 crore which the Centre will pay states for their expenditure on using services of the central police forces.
Other portions of the Centre’s expenditure include ₹150 cr ore to be spent on“assistance to central agencies”, ₹60 crore on a “civic action plan” and ₹22.5 crore for a “media plan”.
The “assistance to Central agencies” will include expenditure like hiring helicopters.
Under the “civic action plan” each company of security forces posted in L WE-affected areas will be given ₹3 lakh to be spent on welfare of locals.
The“media plan” of the Centre will include costs incurred to counter the“false propaganda of the LWE cadres against the government”, the official document states.
Aside from this, an additional ₹1,050 cr ore has been reserved by the Centre as expenditure incurred on ex-gratia payments to families of civilians and secu- rity forces killed in LWE-related violence.
The Centre will provide ₹630 crore to this fund and states will spend ₹420 crore.
In another sub-scheme under the MPF, ₹1044 crores will be spent on training, weaponry, vehicles and 250 fortified police station and outposts in LWE-affected states. In this sub-scheme, ₹628.8 crore of ₹1,044 crores will be provided by the Centre and the rest by states.
A senior home ministry official said the government was “very serious” about putting an end to L WE as the violence perpetrated by Maoists has cost lives of many in the past few years.
HT had earlier reported that the number of security force personnel killed in Maoist-affected areas was more than that in conflict-hit Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) this year, with left-wing insurgency accounting for the deaths of 67 soldiers out of 106 casualties in the first seven months of 2017.