Rajnath Singh to meet CMS to firm up strategy
NEW DELHI: Chief ministers of Naxalite- affected states will meet top civil and police officers in Delhi on Sunday to devise new ways to tackle the armed rebels.
The meeting, to be held two weeks after 25 paramilitary personnel were killed by a band of Maoists in Chhattisgarh, will be chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
It is expected that the meet will help firm up an anti- Naxal strategy to fight the guerillas in their hideouts in Chhattisgarh and other states in the coming days, a Home Ministry official said.
The chief ministers of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh have been invited to take part in the crucial meeting.
District magistrates and superintendents of police of 35 of the worst-hit Naxalite-affected districts, along with heads of paramilitary forces and intelligence agencies, will attend the meeting.
However, the presence of West Bengal CM Mamata Baner- jee and Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan is still uncertain.
Apart from the CMS, several union ministers will also attend the meeting, covering a wide canvas of security and development issues, particularly infrastructure building.
It is expected to stress on revamping the intelligence gathering mechanism, meticulous analysis of ongoing operations, identifying problem areas and seeking solutions for better results.
On top of the agenda will be the issue of re-calibrating the anti-naxal strategy to make it more effective and to minimise casualties, the official said. The home minister has told the security officials to look for out-ofthe-box solutions to the problem of successive attacks by Naxalites when security personnel oversee road repair or development work in the troubled areas.
Road construction and other development activities in the affected areas will also be discussed. The chief ministers may endorse an alternative modern technology which would help with the speedy completion of projects.
Home Ministry officials said currently 90 per cent of Maoist activities were limited to 35 districts, though they have a hold over pockets in 68 districts in 10 states.
JAIPUR: Six children, aged between three to fifteen years, lost their lives when a tractor-trolley turned turtle in Swai Madhopur district last night. In the tragic incident that occurred in the Rawanjana Dungar police station area, twenty five other persons were also injured. The passengers were on their way to Khanpur from Daulatpura village to attend a mass marriage ceremony. However the tractor-trolley they were travelling in turned turtle while taking a sharp turn. The 25 injured patients are being treated at government hospital in Swai Madhopur, investigating officer in the case, Ravindra Singh said.