Bengal takes up Rs 1,600-cr package for Naxalite zone

In an attempt to uproot Naxalites from their support base among the tribals, the West Bengal government will soon embark on a development project costing Rs 1,600 crore for the western part of the state.

According to state government sources, the funding of the development work will be done by the Centre.

The Centre has already earmarked a sum of Rs 7,300 crore to be spent in the Naxalite-infested states. West Bengal will get Rs 1,600 crore from that. Though no definite plan has been prepared by the state government about the development works to be taken up in the districts of Purulia, Paschim Medinipur, Bankura and Birbhum, stresswill be given to building proper road networks, rural electrification, drinking water, schools and primary health care arrangements, as pointed out by one senior official.

The chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, will embark on a tour of Paschim Medinipur on November 7 and 8. Around this time last year, he had gone to Salboni to lay the foundation stone of Jindal Steel plant with the then union minister of steel Rambilas Paswan when the Naxalites detonated a landmine on their convoy.

This time, the chief minister will spend most of the time in the district headquarters to review the law and order situation and follow up the progress of the development works there.