M.P. CM wants roads in naxal areas

By Our Staff Correspondent

BHOPAL, APRIL 5. The Chief Minister, Mr. Digvijay Singh, who was in Delhi to attend the Chief Ministers' conference on Tuesday to address the naxalite problem, also met the Union Rural Development Minister, Mr. Sunderlal Patwa, and presented a proposal for laying 2700 km of roads in the naxal-affected areas at a cost of Rs. 201 crores.

The Chief Ministers'conference, presided over by the Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani, acquires significance since it was held at a time when naxalites had intensified their activities in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. The naxalites were in the news after the gruesome murder of the Madhya Pradesh Transport Minister, Mr. Likhiram Kavre, in his

home village in Balaghat district on December 15.

In Andhra Pradesh, the State Panchayat Raj Minister, A. Madhav Reddy, was killed in a mine blast. Naxalites also struck terror by killing 17 persons and wounding many others in the first phase of polling for the Bihar Assembly elections on February 17. Three days later, they inflicted another major casualty on the Madhya Pradesh police by blowing up a pick-up truck, killing 23-police personnel including an Additional Superintendent of Police.

In Madhya Pradesh, the naxalites had restricted their activities to the Bastar district (now trifurcated into three districts - Dantewada, Bastar and Kanker), having a common border with Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Orissa, for several years. But in the recent past, they have expanded their activities in Balaghat, Rajnandgaon, Mandla, Dindori, Shahdol and Kavardha districts as well as Sarguja and Jashpur in the north- east touching Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

If one takes a closer look at the Madhya Pradesh districts, where naxalites belonging to the People's War Group (PWG) are gradually spreading, it emerges that they are in the process of building a corridor through the forest areas of the State that links a similar corridor in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar all the way up to Nepal. This issue also came up prominently at yesterday's conference in New Delhi.

Concern about this corridor stretching from Andhra Pradesh to Nepal was also expressed by police officers from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar who had attended a coordination meeting at Ambikapur in Sarguja district of Madhya Pradesh on March 19.

While aiming to develop a strong left wing movement the PWG extremists are working on a three-pronged strategy.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Regional
Previous : DD launches 24-hr. Kannada channel
Next     : Maharashtra seeks aid to tackle naxals