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The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr N.Kiran Kumar Reddy, today favoured a comprehensive development strategy for crucial Naxalite-affected districts in the State, with some of them located along borders of neighbouring States of Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Maharashtra.
During his address at the CMs conference on internal security at New Delhi today, Mr Reddy said: “If we have to prevent regrouping of Naxalites already scattered in the State and other Southern States, we need to work out a comprehensive development strategy.”
Mr Reddy said, “The State had the problem of violence by Left-wing extremists for the last 40 years. A judicious combination of law and order and socio-economic measures has helped us address the problem. The number of armed underground cadre has come down from about 1,100 in 2004 to below 150 in 2011 in the State.”
The Chief Minister said that during the last one year, the State apprehended top functionaries of CPI Maoists in addition to striking at the company formations on the Andhra-Orissa border.
Roadmap
He felt the need to develop infrastructure, particularly a network of roads that can buttress operations along Inter-State borders of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Maharashtra, considering that Maoists have been using these places as shelter zones.
Therefore, AP has proposed inclusion of 6 more districts under the Special Development Plan in Left Wing Extremist areas, in addition to the two districts of Khammam and Adilabad already included in the scheme.
Considering the hostile terrain on the Andhra Pradesh-Orissa border and the lack of roads, the State has requested the stationing of a troop carrier helicopter at Visakhapatnam for facilitating swift air-borne operations in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.
He said that the State needs to relax norms for according permission to lay roads in the Reserve Forests of Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts, as the Eastern Ghats running through the problem areas render combat operations difficult.
A Special Protection Force (SPF), along the lines of CISF, has been built for providing security to industries and vital installations.
The State has established all the six Marine Police Stations sanctioned in Phase-I by the Centre and is in the process of setting up 15 more in the second phase to cover the 974-km long coastline.
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