Modi govt committed to development of Maoist affected areas: Shah

New Delhi, Sep 26 (IANS) The Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Government of India is committed to the development of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected states.

Shah was chairing a review meeting on the LWE situation in affected states.

Shah pointed out that there has been a lot of success due to the joint efforts of the Centre and the states in cracking down on LWE. "The incidents of LWE have come down by 23 per cent, the number of deaths by 21 per cent. In decades of fighting, we have reached a point where the death toll is less than 200 for the first time and this is a huge achievement for all of us. We all know that unless we get rid of the problem of LWE completely, the full development of the country and the states affected by it is not possible," Shah said in the meeting.

The Union Home Minister said that without eliminating it, neither we will be able to spread democracy to the bottom nor will we be able to develop the underdeveloped areas. So, instead of being satisfied with what we have achieved so far, we need to increase speed to get what is left.

"Government of India has been fighting a battle on two fronts for many years without paying attention to the political parties. Those who want to give up arms and join the mainstream are heartily welcome, but those who take up arms and hurt innocent people and the police, will be given the same response," he said.

He mentioned that the root cause of dissatisfaction is that development has not reached there in the last six decades since Independence and now to deal with it, it is very essential to ensure accessibility to fast-paced development so that common and innocent people do not join them.

"Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, the development is continuing and now the Maoists have also understood that innocent people will not be misled by them, which is why it is very important to continue uninterrupted development. This is very important for success on both these fronts," the Union Home Minister said.

Shah said that the fight against the problem, which has claimed the lives of more than 16,000 civilians in the last 40 years, has now reached its end and it needs to be accelerated and made decisive. Shah further pointed out that recently, the Centre has been successful in getting many extremist groups surrendered and lay down arms, especially in the North East.

"So far, about 16,000 cadre have joined the mainstream of the society, including the Bodoland Pact, the Bru Pact, the Karbi Anglong Pact and the surrender by the insurgent cadres of Tripura. We welcome all those who want to leave the violence and join the mainstream," he said. Shah suggested that the state administration should be proactive and move ahead in coordination with the central forces.

Shah assured states that efforts have been made to fulfill demands of the states regarding the deployment of Central forces. The Union Home Minister said that the Prime Minister has taken an important decision to bring down the fixed expenditure of the States on deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs). "As a result of this, there has been a reduction in the expenditure of the states on the deployment of CAPFs by about Rs 2,900 crore in 2019-20 as compared to the year 2018-19. The Prime Minister has continuously reviewed it and is constantly guiding us all," Shah said.

The Union Home Minister said that it is very important to neutralize the sources of income of the Left Wing Extremists. The agencies of the Central and State Governments should try to stop this by making a system together.

He urged all the Chief Ministers to give priority to the problem of LWE for the next one year, so that a permanent solution can be found in this regard. "It requires building pressure, increasing speed and better coordination," he added.

The meeting was attended by the Union Ministers and Chief Ministers of Bihar, Odisha, Maharashtra, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand and Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Senior officials from Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Kerala, Union Home Secretary, top officials of Central Armed Police Forces and many senior officers of Central and State Governments also attended the meeting.