Mumbai: State moots drone surveillance across Naxal territory

At the 11th Inter-state Conference held in New Delhi, Fadnavis made a presentation on the challenges the state has faced till now and the concrete measures that the state has taken to tackle the problems of radical Naxalism along the Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha borders.

“To tackle the problem, the Centre should allow the state government to develop and strengthen a drone surveillance-based communication system,” Fadnavis said.

While indicating that the Naxal corridors often run deep across several states, Fadnavis said, “There should be a joint border police patrolling mechanism to keep uninterrupted vigilance along the Naxal corridor.”

Elaborating on the measures taken till now, he said: “We have adopted a two-pronged strategy. The first relates to the development of the Naxal-hit districts, with special focus on providing employment and education to the local people as well as building roads and the healthcare systems. Moreover, we have also modernised our policing and also launched campaigns to provide passage to those seeking to give up violence.”

Referring to the overall state of law and order in Maharashtra, Fadnavis said, “Our sustained efforts have resulted in the rise of crime conviction rates from 9 per cent to 52 per cent within 20 months.”

At the meeting, the chief minister also stressed the need for higher devolution of funds from centre to state following enforcement of Goods and Services Tax (GST) for a definite period.