LWE menace contained to five districts in State: Odisha Govt

Surjit Kumar Dhal, Bhubaneswar, Aug 23: Left Wing Extremism (LWE) has been restricted to only five district out of around 15 districts in the State earlier, claimed Odisha Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy here on Thursday.

“On the security aspect we have got huge success in curbing left wing extremism. Out of around 15 districts earlier, Naxal menace is now limited to five districts. In the coming days we will be more successful,” Tripathy told reporters after a preparatory meeting here ahead of a review meeting to be chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on LWE in New Delhi on August 26.

Chief Minister, Odisha along with other Chief Ministers from naxal affected districts  are likely to participle in the meeting.

Tripathy said, ” Now our focus is on expeditious implementation of developmental programes in the areas made free of naxal effect.”

He emphasized on development of road connectivity, telecommunication and banking services”.

The Chief Secretary said that at the meeting a blueprint will be drawn for a complete resolution of the LWE problem in the State.

Tripathy said, “On development aspect our insistence has been that unless communication is developed in south Odisha we will continue to face several problems.”

Since the completion of Gurupriya Setu in Swabhimaan area, developmental activities have been expedited in that area and Naxal activities declined.

The same model needs to be replicated in entire south Odisha, Tripathy informed, briefing on issues to be raised during discussions on development aspects at the New Delhi meeting.

“The kind of investment that has been made on roads in Malkangiri and Koraput needs to be done in Kandhamal, Rayagada and Kandhamal,” he added.

The Chief Secretary said that out of 50,000 villages in Odisha 8,000 don’t have mobile telephone network and out of these around 6,000 are LWE affected while adding that efforts are being made to increase that. He said the issue will be raised at the meeting.

Tripathy further said that the issue of low banking penetration in southern and central Odisha will be raised at the meeting.

Notably, the Union Home Ministry has called the meeting with Chief Ministers of LWE affected States to be chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Minister of State (Home) Dibya Shankar Mishra, Chief Secretary, DGP and other senior officials will be part of the delegation attending the meeting at New Delhi.