Centre allots Rs 7,300 cr package as part of anti-naxal plan

NEW DELHI: With nearly 40,000 para-military personnel being deployed in four Maoist-hit states, the Centre has readied its anti-naxal plan which also includes Rs 7,300 crore package for unleashing developmental works in areas cleared off the Left-wing extremists.

As part of its "holistic" anti-naxal plan, the funds would be disbursed in this fiscal and spent over a span of three years in those areas where the naxals were driven out.

The key difference in current strategy is that the government will have a heavy concentration of security forces to ensure elimination of the naxals and restoration of civil administration.

"We hope that literally within 30 days of security forces moving in and dominating the area, we should be able to restore civil administration there," Home Secretary G K Pillai told reporters here.

"In the first year, we will spend Rs 1,000 crore in areas where civil administration is restored after succesfully eliminating the Naxal menace. The development package has already been worked out in consultation with the states," he said.

According to the plan, initially six districts of four states -- Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Maharahstra -- have been chosen to implement the strategy and after its completion, the security forces will be moved into new areas.

So far, the Centre has provided around 40,000 personnel of central paramilitary forces for the anti-naxal operation and some more would be pumped in.