Vilasrao checks in where CMs feared to tread

MUMBAI: It has taken almost 26 years for a Maharashtra chief minister to visit the state’s naxal infested areas.

The far-flung Gadchiroli in Vidarbha was declared a district in 1980. But since then, no chief minister of Maharashtra has mustered enough courage to visit this tribal-dominated and Naxal-infested district, which is also one of the most backward in the state.

On Monday, chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh set a record of sorts when he visited the most interior parts of Gadchiroli district for a post-flood inspection. Before Mr Deshmukh, the late Shankarrao Chavan was the only chief minister, who treaded the forest reserves of Gadchiroli in 1977.

Former Maharashtra governor Mohammad Fazal had visited the hinterland of Gadchiroli district when his office had adopted the Bhamragarh tehsil for a three-month long action plan for development. Ironically, the action plan never took off.

After the Naxal threat emerged in the 1980s, it became a kind of security challenge for all successive chief ministers to think of visiting the interior parts of Gadchiroli. Mr Deshmukh’s predecessor Sushil Kumar Shinde did visit Gadchiroli in ’03 but restricted his schedule only to the district headquarters because of security threat.

Interestingly, state deputy chief minister RR Patil accompanied Mr Deshmukh, too registering his first visit to the troubled district after holding the charge of the home ministry. Heavy security arrangements were made by the police and district administration for the chief minister’s visit. Gadchiroli borders with Chhattisgarh, one of the prominent states fighting Naxalism.

Mr Deshmukh visited a few villages in Bhamragarh tehsil and held a meeting with the officials and villagers on a post-flood measures and other development schemes. Mr Deshmukh assured setting up necessary infrastructure to attract industry in the backward district. The chief minister urged tribal youths to stay away from Naxalism and participate in the development schemes being implemented by the government. “Youths who reject Naxalism and join the social mainstream would be rehabilitated,” Mr Deshmukh assured.