New Delhi: With an aim of tackling Naxalism through development, the government has unveiled a special Rs 3300 crore action plan in 60 affected tribal and backward districts across nine states.
The Integrated Action Plan (IAP) is intended to provide immediate redressal to problems of the people in tribal and backward districts in the sector like healthcare, drinking water, education and roads.
The IAP would be given as an additional central assistance scheme on 100 per cent grant basis to be implemented in two years, Home Minister P Chidambaram said about the decision taken at the meeting of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs held last evening.
"In the current year (2010-11), a block grant of Rs 25 crore will be made available to each of the 60 districts for which the schemes will be decided by a committee headed by the district collector with district SP and district forest
officer as members," Chidambaram said.
The projects would have to be completed by March in a "concrete" and "visible" manner, he said.
The works would be taken up by district collectors by December 1, he said, adding the block amount of Rs 25 crore will have to be utilised in the remaining four months of the current fiscal.
Elaborating on the action plan, he said the grant would be utilised by a committee headed by district collectors of the state to undertake doable projects like construction of link roads, Panchayat Ghar (office building) etc.
The government, he added, proposes to call a meeting of the collectors of the 60 districts shortly to apprise them about the scheme and also the urgency to complete projects within the stipulated time frame.
During the financial year 2011-12, the block grant will be raised to Rs 30 crore per district and it will be reviewed for implementation in the 12th Plan at a later stage.
"Construction of roads and schools and proper implementation of public distribution system will take place in all these Maoist-hit areas," Chidambaram said.
The IAP scheme will focus on improvement in governance and specific preconditions will need to be complied with by the states before availing of the second tranche of the proposed additional financial assistance in 2011-12 under the state component of the IAP.
However, these conditionalities will not apply to the district components of IAP, Chidambaram said.
The existing Koraput-Bolangir-Kalahandi (KBK) plan under the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) will continue as before with annual allocation of Rs 130 crore for all eight districts in Orissa put together.
"The eight KBK districts have also been included under IAP and will get additional block grant of Rs 25 crore per district in the current year and suitable additional amount under both state and district components of IAP in the subsequent years," he said.
Naxals have destroyed a lot of infrastructure over the years with 362 telephone towers, many school buildings, roads and culverts being targeted in 2009 alone.
Government is also implementing an ambitious development scheme for 35 worst Naxal-affected districts in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. According to an estimate, about 40,000 sq km areas in Naxal-affected states are under the control of Maoists.
Naxal violence has claimed the lives of over 10,000 civilians and security personnel in the last five years. Out of a total of 10,268 casualties between 2005 and May 2010, 2,372 deaths have been reported in 2009 as against
1,769 in 2008 and 1,737 in 2007.
(With PTI inputs)
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