BHOPAL: While maintaining that incidents of violence triggered by Left Wing Extremism (LWE) have come down dramatically since the Narendra Modi government came to power in the country, the union home minister Amit Shah called upon the states to give top priority to development schemes in naxal affected areas and aim for full results of those schemes.
“More the development in naxal affected areas, the less will be the recruitment of naxalites and the sources of mobilization of the LWE too will be exhausted,” Shah said while chairing the 23rd meeting of four states-strong Central Zonal Council in Bhopal on Monday.
While the MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami were present physically at the meeting, UP CM Yogi Adityanath and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel joined the meeting through via virtual mode as they couldn’t land in Bhopal owing to unprecedented rains.
“When the LWE violence was at its peak in 2009, the number of incidents were 2,258, which decreased to 509 in 2021. In 2009, around 1,005 people died in militant violence, while in 2021, 147 people were killed. There has also been a decrease in LWE violence at police stations during this period, from 96 such incidents in 2009 it has come down to 46 in 2021.”
Shah said the centre is further strengthening security forces in LWE-affected areas and filling gaps in security, under which 40 new security camps have been opened in the last three years and 15 more are to be opened. It is a great achievement but still, the centre along with states are committed to fully eliminating the LEW problem.
“The government has opened about 5,000 post offices and more than 1200 bank branches in the last three years in LWE-affected areas. Also, to speed up the telecom services, more than 2,300 mobile towers are being installed in the first phase and installation of 2,500 mobile towers in the second phase is going on.”
While maintaining that the four states forming the Central Zonal Council were important for their geographical location, contribution to GDP and development of the country, Shah said, earlier these states were considered as BIMARU States, but now they are moving out of it and are on the path of development.
“The four states are major centers of foodgrain production and have taken PM Modi’s concept of Team India to the ground level. PM Modi has always worked to strengthen the spirit of cooperative federalism. In the last 8 years he has kept the concept of ‘Team India’ before the nation and made it possible. Frequency of meetings of the Zonal Council have increased. Increase in the number of meetings despite the Covid-19, emphasize the concept of PM’s Team India.”
While underlining that there has been a 27 percent increase in resolving issues in the zonal council meetings since 2019, Shah said although the role of the regional council meetings is advisory, but on the basis of the experience of three years as home minister, he can say that by giving importance to the meetings of the Council and its Standing Committee, many issues have been addressed.
“30 issues were discussed in the last meeting of the Central Zonal Council, out of which 26 issues have been resolved, while in the 14th meeting of the Standing Committee held on January 17, 2022, out of 54 issues, 36 have already been resolved. A total of 18 issues were discussed in today's meeting, out of which 15 were resolved, which is a great achievement,” Shah said.
Shah also asked the CMs and chief secretaries of the four states to regularly monitor the issues raised in the council meeting monthly to ensure their expeditious resolution.
The meeting discussed the significant progress made in expansion of banking facilities within 5 kms of all villages as envisioned by PM Modi. The meeting also discussed the seamless integration of the Police Help Line No. 112 with the Women Help Line No. - 181 and Child Help Line No. - 1098 and through this and shifting the cases related to women to ‘Sakhi -One Stop Center’ on a real-time basis.
Issues raised by the four states at the meeting
Several issues were raised at the meeting by the states, including declaring Indore, Bhopal and Raipur airports as international airports, subjects related to food grains, storage, speedy investigation of sexual offences and rape cases against women and children and increasing the central share for police modernization.
Other issues, included amendment in eligibility provisions for National Social Assistance (Old Age/Disabled Pension etc.) programmes, fixation of MSP for Kondo and Kutki crops, inclusion of lac cultivation in crop insurance scheme and Kisan Credit Card, increase in incentive amount for construction of toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission and provision of subsidy for vermicompost on the lines of chemical fertilisers.
The MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan placed key points for deliberation in front of the Council, including directing banks for easy availability of credit to the beneficiaries under the Swamitva Yojana.
“Kisan Credit Cards are being given to fish farmers and livestock farmers in the state at zero percent interest rate. Banks are not taking interest in accepting KCC,” Chouhan said while seeking issuance of guidelines to the banks from the central government.
“There is a need to make a policy regarding returning such land allotted to Central Undertakings and Defence Establishments in the state to the State Government which they are not using.”
“Madhya Pradesh has degraded forests covering an area of 36 lakh square km. Keeping this area of forests in view, the rules regarding compensatory afforestation should be relaxed, so that the work of compensatory afforestation can be made possible in the state against the plans of other states,” Chouhan said.
The Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami requested to start a campaign to connect the seasonal rivers of Uttarakhand with glacier-based rivers. He expressed the need to provide support for making arrangements for large number of pilgrims coming to Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri, Gangotri pilgrimage sites in Uttarakhand and to develop all-weather road in the border area with China and to boost mobile network and connectivity in the villages of mountainous region.
His UP counterpart Yogi Adityanath said that the spirit of cooperative federalism has proved helpful in Corona management. He stressed the need for coordination at the inter-state level on issues related to cow-smuggling. Along with this, he also stressed the need for joint efforts for effective control of lumpy disease in cattle.
Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel along with discussing the topics related to Naxal affected districts, proposed to provide more time for completion of work in Bastar division in Pradhan Mantri Sadak Yojna, give international airport status to Raipur Airport, set up solar plants in aspirational districts and establish a plant by Indian Oil to make ethanol from paddy straw in Chhattisgarh.