Rajnath to preside meeting of top officials of Naxal-hit areas

Home Minister Rajnath Singh will chair a crucial meeting of Chief Secretaries and police chiefs of Naxal-affected states here on Friday to take stock of the situation and to draw up a future gameplan.

Chief Secretaries and Director Generals of Police from all Naxal-hit states, including Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, will take part in the meeting to be addressed by Home Secretary Anil Goswami and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval besides the Home Minister.

Though held on an annual basis, this will be the first meeting of Naxal-hit states since the BJP-led NDA government came to power last month.

Earlier this month, Singh had said that the MHA is working on a comprehensive integrated action plan to solve problems like Naxalism, separatism and terrorism.

"We accept the challenge and based on this, efforts will be made to take balanced action," Rajnath had said.

The Maoist-hit states are Odisha, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgrah, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

The most affected are Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Chattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh had recently met the Home Minister during which he had sought support from the union government.