AP urges Centre to declare 7 districts as Naxal-hit
HYDERABAD: In a significant admission that Andhra Pradesh once again faces the threat of a Naxal resurgence, CM N Kiran Kumar Reddy has urged the Centre to declare the border districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, Adilabad, Karimnagar and Warangal as Naxal-affected. His plea also calls for central funds for these districts under the special development plan (SDP).
As of now, Khammam and Visakhapatnam are identified as Naxal-affected, but only Khammam has been getting the SDP funds, which amounted to Rs 300 crore this year. As per the rules, the Centre extends funds under the SDP only to those districts where at least 20 per cent of police stations are affected by Naxal activities.
According to top sources, the government is of the view that there is a hundred per cent possibility of Naxal resurgence in the districts for which it is seeking the central assistance. "Adilabad and Karimnagar border Gadchiroli in Maharashtra, while Warangal and Khammam border Bijapur and Dantewada in Chhattisgarh. East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam border Malkangiri, Koraput and and Rayagada in Orissa. While the districts in the other three states are already included in the SDP, their neighbouring counterparts in AP have been left out," pointed a senior official in the government.
Other arguments from the state are that most areas in these districts are inaccessible due to lack of road network and, therefore, central funds can help the state break the hold of Naxals and subvert the red corridor that the rebels are claiming to build across the peninsula.
In a meeting with top central officials last week, the state officials pointed out that though there was a gradual decrease in extremist violence in North Telangana, it cannot be taken as a criterion for the actual situation on the ground as there was a very sharp increase in the Naxalite offences and movement in Gadchiroli, Bijapur, Dantewada, Malkangiri and Rayagada districts.
The state officials also pointed that there were large gaps in the network creation across the borders which was not attended to by the SDP initiative.
Among the other initiatives that the Centre is examining to curb the Naxal threat is a proposal to delegate creation of required infrastructure in the Naxal-affected districts to a national agency instead of leaving it to the affected states.
In place of the state agencies, the Centre is considering handing over the responsibility of building the infrastructure to agencies like Border Roads Organization so that the grand plan of the Naxals to build a red corridor is thwarted. "The AP police is on a continuous vigil. But the state cannot control what is happening across its borders. The central assistance will ensure that the Naxals on the run from the other states do not regroup back in AP," claimed a top police official.
Read more: AP urges Centre to declare 7 districts as Naxal-hit - The Times of India
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