NEW DELHI: Marking a clear shift from the stated security-heavy approach, the Centre opened both its heart and arsenal in the freshly reworked anti-Naxal strategy at the meeting of Chief Ministers of Naxal-affected states with the Prime Minister on Wednesday.
In the reworked strategy, the Centre enlisted the support of seven states on eight major issues, including creation of unified commands for anti-Naxal operations, induction of 16,000 more SPOs, setting up an empowered group under the Planning Commission to modify existing norms for implementation of developmental schemes with focus on local needs and conditions and strict and vigorous implementation of the PESA Act.
The Chief Ministers of Orissa, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Jharkhand agreed to create a unified command in their respective states to be headed by the Chief Secretary and a retired Army Major- General as its member.
Acceding to the states’ demand for providing more helicopters, the Centre, however, stuck to its limited mandate strategy by shooting down the proposal for taking Air Force help to carry out operations.
The Centre also decided to fund the establishment/strengthening of 400 police stations in the affected districts at the rate of Rs 2 crore per police station on 80:20 ratio for two years. It also sanctioned 16,000 posts for SPOs in addition to the existing 13,500 posts.
The meeting also agreed to implement the PESA Act, a demand earlier made by Digvijay Singh and Manishankar Aiyar, strictly to ensure rights over minor forest produce are assigned to gram sabhas and the interposition of government- controlled agencies is removed.
It also decided to let the Planning Commission come out with a Special Development Plan for the affected districts with emphasis on road connectivity, primary education, healthcare and potable water.