Centre, states review poll security

The affected states include Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa. In today’s meeting, it was also decided to have a more integrated intelligence network with greater coordination between the Centre and states’ CID units. Director of Intelligence Bureau K P Singh also attended the meeting in addition to senior Home Ministry officials.

The Directors General of Police and Chief Secretaries also asked for additional forces from the Centre in the run-up to the polls and also during elections. ‘‘The threat from naxalites is very real and perhaps as serious as that of terrorists in J-K. There are several areas in these states where there was almost no polling during the last elections. So people have to be reassured that they can come out and vote without fear,’’ said a senior official.

In addition to the short-term measures that would be taken for smooth conduct of polls, sources said that the Home Ministry had also chalked out several long-term plans to tackle the naxal menace.

The police of these states would be given enhanced training, apart from a special security unit to be raised from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). ‘‘We will give special training to these units and deploy them in the nine states,’’ the official said.

The ministry had earlier formed a co-ordination centre under Home Secretary to deal with Left wing extremism. Realising that economic development was the best way to tackle any kind of extremism, the Planning Commission had also identified naxalite-affected districts for ‘Backward District Initiative’ under which special funds were allocated for infrastructure development. The districts would get Rs 45 crore over the next three years under the scheme.

To assist the states to undertake more effective action, the Home Ministry had also agreed to reimburse 50 per cent of the security-related expenditure incurred by them in tackling naxal violence. This included expenditure on procuring semi-automatic and automatic weapons and equipping vehicles with latest communication devices.

Sources, however, said that the ultimate responsibility of dealing with the issue rested with the state governments themselves. ‘‘In this context, the state governments must put aside political differences and join hands to root out the violence,’’ the official added.