Rajnath Singh reviews situation in Jammu and Kashmir, Naxal areas

NEW DELHI: Home minister Rajnath Singh sought strong ground-level assessment of Maoist infected regions, as part of his ministry’s review of internal security matters.

The focus of Monday’s review meeting, said officials, was entirely on dealing with left-wing terrorism. Twenty-five CRPF personnel were killed and seven wounded on April 24 in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district in the deadliest ambush by Maoists on security forces this year.

An official who attended the meeting said the minister laid out possible changes to the strategy to deal with the Maoists. “CRPF DG (director-general) was also there and the changes have to be implemented fast,” he said.

Chief ministers of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh are expected to attend a meeting convened by Singh on May 8 to review anti-Naxal strategies, a senior home ministry official said.

Chief secretaries and directors general of police of these states, as well as the heads of paramilitary forces will also attend the meeting, the official added.