Naxal areas need solid communication system: CM
| Date :27-Aug-2019 |
Staff Reporter : CM Kamal Nath attends meeting of Chief Ministers of Naxal-affected states Expressing his commitment to fight against Naxalism, Chief Minister Kamal Nath said that there’s a need to develop strong and effective communication network in the Naxal-affected areas so that there is quick information collection and immediate action. Kamal Nath said that all efforts are being made to eliminate the menace of Naxalism from the State. He called for joint efforts of the Union Government and the state for permanent solution to end Naxalism. Kamal Nath was speaking at the review meeting of Chief Ministers of Naxal-affected states called by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Monday. Chief Ministers of eleven states participated in the meeting.
Informing about the steps taken by the State Government in dealing with Naxalism in State, Kamal Nath said that HAWK force was created in the year 2,000. The participative developmental policies succeeded in limiting Naxalism only to two districts Balaghat and Mandla. The State Police has been instructed to co-ordinate with Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh Police. Greater emphasis has been put on modernisation of police force. They have been equipped with modern gadgets such as trackers, GPS, drones, trap cameras, body protective armours and jungle terrain vehicles. He emphasised on coupling technologies with human intelligence.
Kamal Nath said that a Special Intelligence Branch has been formed for Naxal-affected areas. Kamal Nath pointed out that in the Naxal-hit areas poor connectivity is the main issue which hampers collection and sharing of information. He requested the Government of India for making provision of at least 4G connectivity in Balaghat and Mandla districts. He said that communication network in Naxal-affected areas heavily depends on police wireless due to poor telephone and mobile network coverage. There is only 50% 2G connectivity in the tribal blocks.
He requested the DMG for sanctioning of Rs. 33.74 crores for which the proposal and DPR has been submitted to the central government under PMGY for constructions of two roads and one bridge in Balaghat and two roads and three bridges in Mandla district. Kamal Nath requested for early sanctioning of funds for the year 2019-20 for setting up of Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) in one block in Balaghat (Birsa) and four blocks in Mandla (Mainpur, Beejadandi, Mawai and Mohgaon). Chief Minister Kamal Nath expressed the need of financial inclusion of the citizens. He said presently there are 6.6 bank branches per lakh of population in Balaghat and Mandla against the State average of 10.58. While area per bank branch is approx. 102.5 sq.km against the state average of 49 sq.km. To deal with such a situation, the state government has launched a financial literacy campaign on this year at 89 tribal blocks of the State from 16th August to 15th September 2019. About 30 financial literacy camps will be organised during this period in each tribal block.
This includes 12 tribal blocks of Mandla and Balaghat districts. Kamal Nath informed that the government is committed to protect the rights of tribals. Out of 6.26 lakh patta claim applications received, rights have been given in 2.66 lakh cases. Instructions have been given to review all the 3.66 lakh applications which were rejected largely due to incomplete documents. He informed that ‘Van Mitra’ portal has been started for comprehensive, transparent and speedy disposal of all 3.6 lakh rejected claims in all districts of the state. Chief Secretary S R Mohanty, DGP V K Singh and ADG G P Singh also attended the conference.
Open ITI and Polytechnic in Naxal-affected areas: Nath Chief Minister Kamal Nath has suggested the Centre to open ITI and Polytechnic colleges in Naxal-affected areas so that youth may get employment opportunities and refrain from extremist ideology. In the meeting of the Chief Ministers of the Naxal-affected states, Kamal Nath urged the Centre to open Ekalvya Model Residential School in the remaining 9 blocks also apart from Mandla and Dindori. He put forth a demand for increasing the number of India Reserve Battalion and posting of additional Jawans in the naxal-affected areas.
Kamal Nath urged to include Anuppur, Umaria and Dindori districts in the list of the category of naxal-affected district besides the two districts Mandla and Balaghat. He further said that the Center and State Government should make joint efforts to stop emergence of Naxal problem in these three districts. Schemes of developmental works should be made in these districts also on the lines of integrated work-plan, he requested. Emphasising on the development of powerful communication network, the CM said that the information mechanism is ineffective in the backward areas due to unavailability of the 3G and 4G services. He expressed the need to take the help of private telecom operators as the BSNL services are not satisfactory in the backward areas, so that information- mechanism should be made effective through 3G and 4G.