Speed up development work in Maoist-affected areas: Rajnath

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday directed authorities concerned to speed up development work in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE), or Maoist, affected areas of various states, an official statement said.

Chairing a review meeting here about the work being carried out in such areas across the affected states, he congratulated all concerned, including central ministries and officials from the states, as progress in development works has picked up during the last two years.

However he stressed the need to build upon this progress further and complete the projects in hand at an even quicker pace, so that the people living in these areas are benefitted and get access to services and facilities at par with other parts of the country, said a home ministry statement.

During the meeting, special projects such as construction of roads, installation of mobile towers, development measures such as schools with hostel facility in the worst affected districts were discussed. It was also decided to upgrade the multi-specialty hospital at Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh.

Rajnath Singh also noted that deaths due to Maoist incidents had declined by 42 percent during

2015 as compared to 2013.

Present in the meeting were secretaries of the Railways, Road Transport and Highways, Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Information and Broadcasting, Finance, Health and Family Welfare and Human Resource Development Ministries as well as the Chief Secretaries of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Telengana and Maharashtra.

--IANS

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