Two new districts in Chhattisgarh

The Chhattisgarh government carved two new districts in tribal-dominated Bastar region with an overt signal of speeding up the development works in the interior areas to check the menace of the Maoists.

The two districts""Bijapur and Narayanpur""came into existence from May 1. With the creation of two new revenue districts, the number of districts in the state has increased to 18. While Bijapur was bifurcated from Dantewada, Narayanpur was carved out of Bastar District.

Being one of the worst Maoist-hit areas in the country, the state government had earlier declared Bijapur and Narayanpur as police district and posted superintendents of police in a bid to upgrade the security apparatus. Since then, the demand of elevating both the police districts as revenue districts was gaining ground.

"The creation of two new districts in the Maoist hotbed would help police in its movement against the Left radical group," Bastar inspector general of police R K Vij told Business Standard. The new set-up would speed up the pace of development works in the interior areas, he added.

"The tribals who were dependent on Maoists (in the territories that rebels claimed to be under their governance) could also get quick redressal of their grievances," Vij added.

Bijapur and Narayanpur would now become the worst Maoist-hit districts in Chhattisgarh. Earlier, the undivided Dantewada district was identified as biggest insurgency-hit district in the state. In Bijapur, the rebels have their operational zone while in interior areas of Narayanpur""specially in Aboojhmad pocket""Maoists are learned to have established their headquarters and training zones.

According to a news agency report, Chhattisgarh reported 200 deaths including 113 civilian casualties in the first four months of 2007. Of these, the maximum casualty was reported in Bijapur and Narayanpur areas.