HYDERABAD: Following the re-organisation of districts in Telangana, more new districts are likely to be added in the list of Maoist affected areas by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in the wake of rise in Left Wing Extremism (LFE) activities traced to several new places.
Previously, the state had ten districts in which Adilabad, Karimnagar, Khammam, Medak, Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda, Warangal and Nizamabad districts had been considered as Left Wing Extremism affected districts, and Additional Central Assistance (ACA) was provided to these districts. The government had recently carved out 31 new districts from the erstwhile ten. A total nine new districts would be added in the MHA list and final list is under preparation by higher officials.
Sources told Express that in view of new districts’ formation, and LWE activities underway in these newly-formed districts, the MHA officials have discussed with senior police officials from the State and are likely to add more districts in MHA’s Maoist affected list.
Currently, as many as 106 districts in ten states have been identified by the Central Government as Left Wing Extremism affected districts in the country. From TS, there are eight districts which come under Maoist-affected places and AP also has eight districts on the list. According to sources, two new districts from erstwhile Adilabad - Adilabad and Komarum Bheem (new districts); from Karimnagar - Karimnagar, Jagityal and Rajanna Siricilla; from Warangal - Jayashankar Bhupalapally, Mahboobad, Janagama, from Khammam - Bhadradri Kothagudem are likely to be added in the list of MHA.
A team of senior police officials have completed the exercise of finalising a list of districts from Telangana in view of recent Maoist incidents like surrenders and arrests taken place. As per the list of LWE affected places, the Central government would provide financial assistance under Additional Central Assistance to implement new schemes in providing benefits to local needs to prevent Maoist activities. In TS, the Maoist state committee is operating with 92 underground cadres. Of them, only 18 are from state and remaining from Chhattishgarh.