UPA-II adopting integrated approach to deal with naxals

New Delhi, Jun 1 (PTI) With Maoist violence remaining
high on the UPA-II agenda, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh Tuesday said his government will pursue a policy that
genuinely addresses developmental concerns while enforcing the
writ of the state.

He also announced that his government is adopting an
integrated approach to deal with naxals and offering support
to state governments on issues pertaining to left wing
extremists (LWE).
"In dealing with the challenge of naxalism, we will
pursue a policy that genuinely seeks to address developmental
concerns at the grassroots, while firmly enforcing the writ of
the state," the Prime Minister said while releasing a report
prepared by the United Progressive Alliance-II government on
the completion of its one year.
"We will fight against the scourge of communalism and
political extremism. We will fight terrorism root and branch.
We will ensure that this great, liberal and plural nation of
ours is not weakened by hatred and bigotry," he said.
"The UPA government has adopted an integrated approach
in dealing with left wing extremists in the area of security,
development and public perception," the report said.
State governments deal with various issues related to
LWE in their states. The Central government supplements their
efforts in several ways, it said.
These include providing para-military forces and
commando battalions, modernisation and upgradation of the
state police and their intelligence apparatus under the scheme
for Modernisation of State Police Forces and re-imbursement of
security related expenditure under the Security Related
Expenditure Scheme.
The government is filling up critical infrastructure
gaps under the scheme for Special Infrastructure in left wing
extremism affected states and is providing assistance in
training of state police through Defence ministry and central
police organisations.
The report said an amount of Rs 668.61 crore has been
released during 2009-10 under the schemes for Modernisation of
Police Forces (Rs 578.61 crore), Security Related Expenditure
(Rs 60 crore) and Special Infrastructure Scheme (Rs 30 crore)
to left wing extremism affected states.
A sum of Rs 1230 crore has been released to all the
states for modernisation of state police forces, the report
said.
It said during 2009-10, construction of 210 km of
fencing, 310 km of border roads and 400 km of floodlighting
was completed along the India-Bangladesh border. Construction
of 50 border out-posts has also commenced.
Formation works along a length of 35.89 km and
surfacing works along a length of 11.2 km were completed on 11
roads along the India-China border.
In the Gujarat sector, along the Indo-Pakistan border,
construction of 15 km length of border roads was completed,
the report said. PTI ACB
KAB