Task force on Naxalites to meet in Delhi

Task force on Naxalites to meet in Delhi
New Delhi, Oct 27: A meeting of the task force on Naxalites here today will review the situation arising out of spurt in violence unleashed by ultras.

Till August this year, 115 security personnel and 401 civilians were killed by ultra-Left insurgents compared to the figures of 94 and 364 during the corresponding period last year, sources in the Union Home Ministry said.

They said Chhattisgarh remained the most affected state where Naxal violence registered a sharp rise in the first eight months of 2006 - from 265 incidents last year to 469 till August this year.

Against such a scenario, the task force headed by special secretary (internal security) G S Rajagopal will meet to take stock of the situation and review the measures to contain the problem.

The task force was constituted in October 2004 to deliberate upon the steps needed to deal with the menace more effectively and in a coordinated way.

The members of the task force comprise nodal officers of the nine Naxal-affected states - Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal - and representatives of Intelligence Bureau, CRPF and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

With reports of inter-state arms procurement by ultras in Andhra Pradesh, the Union Home Ministry has recently constituted a special Naxal desk in the MHA headed by a special secretary, even as the Centre proposed to constitute an EGoM to take a holistic view of the problem and suggest infrastructure development in the affected areas.

Bureau Report

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