Plan panel working on Rs 13,742-cr package for Naxal-hit areas

The Planning Commission today said that it is working on a Rs 13,742-crore special development package for 35 Naxal-hit districts spread across nine states.

"We are working on an Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for Naxal-hit districts, which -- including everything -- will come out to be Rs 13,742 crore... But it (package) is yet to be finalised," Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia told reporters here.

"(The proposal) has come to us from the cabinet committee on security. The package would be for a three-year period for infrastructure development in these districts, like roads, drinking water and electrification," he added.

Stating that the proposal is being deliberated internally, he said that they would be meeting again next week to discuss it.

The issue of Naxalism would also come up for discussion in the forthcoming meeting of the National Development Council, the country's highest planning body, on July 24.

The special package for affected districts gains particular significance in the backdrop of the government's flagship programmes, such as the Bharat Nirman and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme, not achieving much success there.

The commission is also looking at the possibility of implementing the PESA (Panchayats Extension to Schedule Areas) Act, 1996, to give tribals the right to use minor forest produce.

Earlier, Ahluwalia had expressed concern over excessive state regulations preventing tribals from using minor forest produce such as grass and tendu leaves.

It should not be subjected to regulation by the state Forest Departments, he had maintained.

Parts of as many as nine states -- Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal -- are in the grip of Naxalism.