Home Minister to review Maoist violence; to chalk out plans

Ten states, facing the onslaught of Maoists violence, will give presentations before Home Minister Rajnath Singh here tomorrow where plans will be chalked out how to tackle the problem.
Chief Secretaries and DGPs of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana will brief the Home Minister the left wing extremism scenario in their states and the successes and failures so far.
A critical appraisal of operational performance of security forces, gaps in coordination between the state police forces and central paramilitary forces will be discussed threadbare as will be the issue of bringing synergy among themselves, a Home Ministry official said.

Performance of state governments in centrally-sponsored projects like security-related expenditure, special infrastructure scheme, fortified police stations and infrastructure availability in central paramilitary forces camps will be reviewed by the Home Minister.
Presentations will be given on developments projects like integrated action plan, road projects and installation of over 2,199 mobile phone towers in Naxal-hit areas.
Construction of around 5,000 km roads at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore are under various stages and plans to set up the mobile phone towers at a cost of Rs 3,000 crore is yet to start.

Singh is also expected to take a view on a new initiative of the Home Ministry to give special monetary benefits, out-of- turn promotions and choice posting to bureaucrats and security personnel operating in Maoist-hit areas considered "dangerous".

Flagging Naxal areas as the 'most dangerous zone' in the country, the government is planning to enhance hardship allowance given to paramilitary personnel deployed in these places more than what they get while serving in Jammu and Kashmir and Northeastern region.
At present, a paramilitary constable serving in J and K gets around Rs 8,000 per month in addition to his or her normal salary and other entitlements.