Package for Naxal affected areas in 2 weeks

The integrated action plan for the Naxal-affected areas is likely to be finalised in the next two weeks.

The Planning Commission will meet Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on September 7 to discuss the scope and financial viability of the plan and send it to cabinet for its consideration by September 15.

The Planning Commission had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the issue yesterday and discussed the scope of the plan, among other things.

"Many conjectures have come out and will be sorted out. We expect to send it to cabinet by the middle of this month," said a Planning Commission official on condition of anonymity.

The plan, expected to be Rs 13,742 crore in size, is going to be spread over a period of three years directed at infrastructural development of the 35 Naxal-affected districts.

Under the proposed plan, about Rs 5,768 crore will be spent on road connectivity, Rs 1,602 crore on education, Rs 850 crore on health services, Rs 835 crore on rural electrification and Rs 888 crore on irrigation to bring the least developed areas on a par with national development.

However, the plan panel was divided over the inclusion of only 35 districts and some members had asked for an extension of the scheme to 65 districts. The issue is still being deliberated.