NEW DELHI: In the wake of anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh in which 31 extremists were neutralised, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has convened a meeting of Chief Ministers and Home Ministers from Left-Wing-Extremism (LWE)-affected states on Monday.
The meeting is aimed to take an update on the ongoing offensive and also discuss developmental projects being implanted in their respective jurisdictions, officials in the MHA said.
Ahead of the meeting the Home Minister on Saturday spoke to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai and took an update from him and also reviewed the situation, the official said, adding that the conversation between the two leaders centred on “the details of the encounter”.
Shah, on his part, praised the efforts of the state police and central forces involved in the operation and appreciated their commitment on eradicating the Naxal influence from the region, the officials said.
Beside Sai, others, who will be attending in the meeting on Monday, include chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh N Chandrababu Naidu, Nitish Kumar of Bihar, Hemant Soren of Jharkhand, Revanth Reddy of Telangana, Mohan Charan Manjhi of Odisha, Eknath Shinde of Maharashtra and Mohan Yadav of Madhya Pradesh, the MHA said in a statement.
It further said five Union Ministers, whose ministries are directly involved in providing development support to the LWE-affected States, will also attend the meeting. The Deputy National Security Advisor and senior officers from Centre, States & Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) will also be part of the deliberations during the meeting.
Chhattisgarh CM is reported to have said, the state government has been conducting continuous search operations in Naxal-affected areas while prioritising development projects. “Our goal is to eliminate Naxal violence and integrate these regions into the mainstream of development,” he noted.
The Union Home Minister had last chaired the LWE review meeting with the Chief Ministers of the affected states on October 6, 2023. At that time Shah had given comprehensive directions for the elimination of LWE.
“Due to the strategy of Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, LWE violence has come down by 72 per cent while there is 86 per cent decline in deaths in 2023 as compared to the year 2010 and the extremists are fighting their last battle today. The year 2024, so far, has witnessed unprecedented success by the security forces in the elimination of armed LWE cadres. So far, 202 LWE cadres have been eliminated in this year, 723 LWE cadres have surrendered in the first nine months of 2024, while 812 have been arrested,” the MHA said in the statement, adding that the number of LWE-affected districts have also come down to just 38 in 2024.
It went on to add that the Union government has taken many steps, including impetus on road and mobile connectivity, to take developmental schemes to the remotest areas of the affected states, as 14,400 km roads have been constructed and nearly 6,000 mobile towers have been installed in LWE-affected areas, so far.