Centre convenes meeting of Naxal-affected states tomorrow

NEW DELHI: Top police and civil officials of Maoist-hit states will attend a high-level meeting here tomorrow to review the anti-Naxal operations and discuss steps to improve the efficacy of strategies.

Chief secretaries and DGPs of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh will take part in the meeting convened by the Home Ministry.

The meeting, to be chaired by Union Home Secretary R K Singh, will review the development programmes being carried out in Naxal-hit districts and ways to speed them up to reach the maximum number of people.

Among other key issues that are likely to come up for discussion is setting up of mobile telephone towers in Maoist-hit areas where the rebels often target and destroy the communication network and improvement of road connectivity.

The meeting was earlier scheduled on February 20, a Home Ministry official said.

It would also deliberate on the issue of coordination among states and central police forces and decide on a strategy to tackle Naxals who are known to flee from one state to another after carrying out offensives.

Naxal violence has been reported in areas falling under 270 police stations in 64 districts of these states. A total of 170 people have been killed in incidents of Naxal violence in the last six months.

While 127 civilians were killed between the period August last year and January, 43 security force personnel lost their lives in the same period which saw 533 such incidents in various parts of the country. Thirty Maoists were killed and 871 were arrested during the period.