Our correspondent
NEW DELHI:
The Northeast desk of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has put all security agencies on alert following an increase in Maoists activities in Northeastern states.
“The Northeast desk is on its toes. They are keeping a regular and close watch on the development happening in the Northeast related to left wing extremism (LWE),” a senior official in the Home Ministry dealing with LWE issue, said.
The alert comes as a close watch is being kept, by the Northeast desk of the MHA, on the developments related to Maoists in this landlocked region. The official, however, also said, “LWE is not a major issue in the Northeast at present.”
When asked about the reasons behind Naxal’s strategy to make inroads into the Northeast, the official said that because of the resolute actions being taken against the LWEs “they are searching for new hideouts and bases”.
The Union Home Ministry has chalked out a massive plan of action to wipe out Maoists from the country, and has initiated a strategy to wipe-out Left Wing Extremism (LWE) from India in next two to three years.
“We have pinpointed 25 most LWE-affected districts in nine states across India to initiate major developmental activities,” an MHA official said.
“Our strategy is to wipe out Naxalism from India in the next two to three years by bringing an overall development in the targeted areas. Accordingly, in the last few years, we have set up 47 ITIs, 62 skill development centres, 11 Kendriya Vidyalaya, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, and 1200 bank branches in the Naxal affected areas,” the official informed.
Apart from opening new bank branches in Naxal affected areas, 2542 mobile towers will also be set up in the coming days.
Of late, a few Naxal leaders and their sympathisers have been arrested by the security agencies from different parts of Assam.
Earlier in March, security agencies arrested senior Maoist leader Arun Kumar Bhattacharjee alias Kanchan Da, a member of Central Committee of CPI (Maoist) along with his associate Akash Orang alias Kajal, a member of Assam State Organizing Committee of CPI (Maoist), from Patimara Tea Garden in Cachar.
“Following their interrogation, it was revealed that they were involved in spreading the network of Maoists in Assam and other Northeastern states,” the official said, quoting an intelligence report. Assam’s Cachar, Dibrugarh, Dhubri are some of the districts targeted by the Maoists to infiltrate into the State.