In a fresh strategy to combat the Maoist menace, the government today asked Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal to create a unified command for anti-Maoist operations and to appoint a retired major general of the Army as its member.

The Centre will "request the state governments of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal to create a unified command for anti-Maoist operations and to appoint a retired major general of the Army as a member of the command," home minister P Chidambaram said addressing leaders of seven Maoist-affected states here.

The meeting chaired by prime minister Manmohan Singh is being attended by chief ministers of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. While Jharkhand is being represented by its governor, West Bengal has sent a senior minister for the meet.

Announcing decisions to fight Left-wing extremism, Chidambaram said government will also provide more helicopters to the states for logistic support, troop movement, supplies and evacuation.

The government will also fund the establishment and strengthening of 400 police stations in the affected districts at the rate of Rs two crore per police station on 80:20 basis over a period of two years.

Chidambaram in his inaugural speech said these decisions were taken in the light of experience gained in the last six months.

Chidambaram also said that Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal will be requested to appoint an officer of the rank of inspector general of police (IGP) as IGP (anti-Maoist operations) for each state who will be co-ordinating the anti-Maoist operations with their counterparts in the CRPF which has already appointed officers for similar exclusive anti-Maoist duties.

Speaking about development issues in the states affected by Maoist violence, Chidambaram said an empowered group chaired by member-secretary, Planning Commission will modify existing norms and guidelines to implement various development schemes keeping in view local needs and conditions in the districts.

He said the state governments will be requested to implement provisions of the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled) Areas (PESA) Act strictly and vigorously to particularly ensure that rights over minor forest produce are assigned to the Gram Sabhas and the inter-position of Government controlled departments, corporations and cooperatives are removed.

The road connectivity in 34 districts most affected by Maoist menace will also be improved.

"A number of roads and bridges are proposed to be included, at a cost of Rs 950 crore, by the ministry of road transport and highways," Chidambaram said.

The Planning Commission is considering a special development plan for the affected districts, states with emphasis on road connectivity, primary education, primary health care and drinking water. Consultations have been held with the state governments and it is expected that the plan will be placed before the competent authority, shortly, for approval, he said.

Coming down heavily on the activities of the CPI (Maoist), Chidambram said, "It (CPI Maoist) has no right to set itself up as judge, jury and executioner. In fact, it has no right to carry arms. It is a banned organisation and functions outside the pale of the law".

Chidambaram also spoke about the setbacks suffered by the security forces.

"The most serious setbacks were in Silda (West Bengal) and in Tarmetla (in Dantewada where 76 security men were killed on April six), Chingawaram and Dhaudhai (27 CRPF men were killed on June 29) in Chhattisgarh. Besides, there was the derailment of the Gynaneswari Express that claimed the lives of 149 innocent civilians," he said.

While there have been some lapses on the part of the security forces in failing to follow standard operating procedures, there can be no gainsaying that the attacks by the CPI (Maoist) were pre-meditated and carried out with the objective of inflicting maximum damage on the security forces and overawing the people and the elected governments, he said.

"We would do well to remember that the attacks by the CPI (Maoist), whether opportunistic or pre-planned, are part of their strategy of armed liberation struggle and in furtherance of their goal of seizure of political power through protracted people?s war," he said.

Underlining the "gravity of the challenge" posed by the activities of such extremists, Chidambaram said during the period January to June, 2010, there have been 1103 incidents of violence perpetrated by Maoists.

While 97 extremists were killed and 1,341 apprehended, 209 members of the security forces also lost their lives, he said.

"You are aware that the CPI (Maoist) is the principal Left Wing extremist organisation. As long as the CPI (Maoist) was not challenged effectively, it expanded its area of activity, recruited more cadres, kidnapped more persons, extorted more money, acquired or looted more weapons, asserted its dominance in more areas, and targeted the security forces as well as civilians. Among the civilians, the CPI (Maoist) specially targeted civilians who it named as police informers. Between 2004 and 2008, on an average, 500 civilians were killed every year and many of them were killed after being named police informers," he said.

In 2009, 591 civilians were killed, of which 211 were named as police informers. This trend has continued in the first half of 2010 too, with 325 civilians killed, of which 142 were dubbed as police informers.

"We are especially concerned that ordinary citizens should be labelled as police informers and killed by the CPI (Maoist)," he said.

Calling the Maoist situation in the country as "serious", Chidambaram requested the chief ministers to bring on table, in this meeting, the good and the bad things and asked them to discuss issues in a free and frank manner.

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Bihar,Ch'garh CM endorse integrated approach

New Delhi

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar today said an "integrated approach" was needed to tackle the Naxal menace as "enforcement action alone" would lead to their wider alienation.

Addressing a meeting of Naxal-affected states convened by the Prime Minister here, the Bihar chief minister also attacked the Centre for not providing requisite support to his state for tackling the menace.

Stressing on the need for an "integrated approach" against Left-wing extremism, Kumar said, "Enforcement action alone leads to wider alienation, making heroes out of the leaders of the extremist organisations and leads to only symptomatic treatment, leaving the underlined disease to reappear in a more virulent form."

"Naxal elements are a part of our society even though they have been misled into following the path of violence," he said.

Kumar said despite concerns expressed by his government over the Naxal situation and demands to increase the number of Central Paramilitary Forces (CPMF) in the state, Bihar has "not received the requisite support from the Central government."

"There has been no change in the number of CPMF companies deployed in Bihar over the last several years," he said, adding that after the last such meeting in October 2009, the number of CPMF was increased in other states but Bihar "did not get a single additional company".

The number of CPMF training establishments in the state should also be increased, he said.

Kumar said Left-wing extremism could be tackled through sustained development but this needs the Centre's supportive approach to states like Bihar.

He said the state government has been successful in keeping the Naxal situation under check despite handicaps in terms of limited manpower, equipment and resources.

"To augment this, we have raised a Special Auxiliary Police by employing ex-servicemen. Unfortunately, we have not been able to get the sanctioned number even after relaxing the employment conditions and raising the allowances," Kumar said.

Pointing out that over 2,000 state police personnel have been trained by various organisations to tackle "domestic militancy", Kumar said Bihar was also working to set up schools for specialised counter-insurgency training.

On the Planning Commission's integrated action plan for carrying out developmental work in 35 Naxal-affected districts, Kumar said, "It is recognised that there are 83 Left-wing extremism affected districts all over India. It is not clear as to why only 35 districts have been selected for integrated development."

"As the remaining 48 districts will continue to remain backward, the problem cannot be solved by leaving the majority of the districts uncovered," he said.

"It cannot be disputed that intensive all-round development is the final solution for the Left-wing extremism problem," he noted.

Kumar said his government's flagship programme 'Aapki Sarkar Aapke Dwar' aimed at holistic development of the extremist-affected areas.

This strategy, he said, included sanitisation of such areas before implementing developmental and welfare activities in a saturation approach.

The chief minister also said that Bihar shares a long and porous border with Nepal leading to problems of fake currency, smuggling of narcotics and criminal activities, and there was a "strong need" for increasing the number of CPMFs there.

Kumar said fortification of Border Outposts, construction of border roads and joint survey of the international boundary by the teams of both countries was also required.

Holding that Naxalism is not the concern of a single state, Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh today said a concerted national strategy needs to be drawn up to combat the menace.

"The country must now rise above the constriction that this (Naxal problem) is the concern of any single state...We have been advocating a concerted national strategy to combat it," he said addressing the meeting of chief ministers of Naxal-affected states.

Asserting that initiating a dialogue with Naxalites will not serve any purpose until they express faith in the Constitution and adopt democratic means, Singh said Maoists were pressuring for talks without laying down arms.

The chief minister said Naxals have to be fought in a "spirit of political consensus and social cooperation" and noted that they were taking the help of certain human rights activists and pseudo intellectuals for propagating their agenda.

"We need to formulate affirmative, responsive action on this front and put forward the truth before the people. We firmly believe that we will win this war by winning the support and confidence of the people," he said.

Singh noted that Naxals have "wantonly destroyed" public property and facilities worth billions or rupees in the form of roads, rail tracks, power lines, hospitals, schools, buses and passenger vehicles.

"They have mercilessly killed the forest-dwellers and general public. It is also clear that their intentions are to eventually usurp power at Delhi," he said.

On reports that mineral-rich areas in Bastar have been given away to the multinational companies, Singh said not even a kg of iron ore has been taken away by them.

"The fact is that of the 40,000 sq kms of Bastar division, only 1 per cent of the area has been given for mining and this too to the public sector companies like NMDC, SAIL and Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation," he said.

Noting that intellectuals and society at large must rise above such misleading propaganda, Singh said the "Entire nation has to unite" with Chhattisgarh's multi-directional, multi-tier efforts to combat the Naxal problem.

He said Naxalism and terrorism are just "two faces of the same coin" and a "decisive battle" against them was necessary to eliminate this terror from the state and the country.

"Chhattisgarh is engaged in the biggest battle against Naxalites. We all know very well that there is no alternative except to armed response to the Naxalite violence," he said.

Singh also listed the steps being taken by his state on the security front and said that at least 10 more battalions of paramilitary forces were urgently required for fighting the Naxals.

Citing intelligence reports about the enormity of the problem, he said the Dandakarnaya Special Zonal Committee of the Naxals now has 7 divisions and 32 area sub-committees under which 50,000 Naxal and jan-militia cadres are engaged in "waging a war against our democracy".

On the campaign against the Naxalites, Singh said that 119 of them have been killed in the state which is the highest in the country.

Speaking to reporters before the meeting, Singh called for an integrated action plan to tackle the menace.

"There are different governments in different states and all of them are dealing with the issue (Naxal) in their own way. An integrated action plan should be made and all of us should agree on one common point," he said.

Pointing out that such meetings help the states to discuss the issue together, Singh said all Naxal-affected states recognise the menace as the biggest security threat and the need to combat it.