Employment provided to 12 lakh workers in Naxal affected districts of MP- Chief Minister Shri Chouhan

Bhopal:  

A review meeting on Left Wing Extremism was held in New Delhi under the chairmanship of Union Home and Cooperative Minister Shri Amit Shah. In the meeting, all the states affected by Naxalism expressed their commitment towards development in the Naxal affected areas. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan gave information in the meeting about the efforts being made to control the naxal affected areas in Madhya Pradesh. Chief Minister Shri Chouhan informed that in the year 2020-21, Rs 802 crore was paid by providing employment to 12 lakh workers in Naxal affected districts. In the last 5 years, infrastructure construction works worth Rs 375 crore have been done in the Naxal affected areas. Apart from this, Naxalites carrying rewards have been killed in the encounters and arrests have also been made.

The meeting was attended by the Union Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Shri Giriraj Singh, the Minister of Tribal Affairs Shri Arjun Munda, the Minister of Telecom, Information Technology and Railways Shri Ashwini Vaishnav, the Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways General V.K. Singh and Union Minister of State for Home Shri Nityanand Rai were also present. The meeting was attended by the Chief Ministers of Bihar, Odisha, Maharashtra, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand and the Home Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, senior officials from Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Kerala, Union Home Secretary, top officials of the Central Armed Police Forces and several senior officials of central and state governments also attended.

Continuity of development works in the affected areas

Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan apprised in the meeting that apart from taking armed action to control Naxalism in the Naxal-affected districts of the state, continuous developmental works are being done. Employment is being provided to the people in the area under MGNREGA on a large scale. Chief Minister Shri Chouhan informed that in the Naxal-affected districts, in the one year period of 2020-21 alone, Rs.802 crore 57 lakh has been paid while providing employment to 12 lakh MGNREGA workers. During the last five years, the state has constructed 430 km of roads and 14 bridges by spending Rs 375 crore in the Public Works Department from its own resources. Apart from this, under Madhya Pradesh Rural Connectivity Scheme and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna, 1405 km of roads have been built in Naxal affected districts with an expenditure of 72 crores. Chief Minister Shri Chouhan informed that in Madhya Pradesh, 34 thousand pattas were given to the brothers and sisters of the tribe while reconsidering the earlier canceled claims of forest rights pattas.

Work of economic empowerment of tribes continues

Chief Minister Shri Chouhan informed that development works are being done continuously for the economic empowerment of tribals in Madhya Pradesh along with armed action. The government has passed the Scheduled Tribe Debt Release Act-2020, due to which the loans given against the rules to the tribals living in the scheduled areas have been automatically waived. The work of implementing PESA law in a phased manner is being started in the state. State rules will be amended in the direction of empowering “Village Nyayalayas”. Under Devaranya Yojana in Madhya Pradesh, the technique of production of medicines in Scheduled Tribe areas and market linkage for them is being made available. Through the activities carried out by Forest Department, employment has been created in districts Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori.

Focus on availability of employment in the affected areas

Chief Minister Shri Chouhan informed that 23113 women self-help groups have been formed in Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori districts, from which 2 lakh 74 thousand families have been connected. These groups are also working in non-agriculture sector along with advanced farming, marketing of animal husbandry products. As a result of the industry friendly policy of the state, 10 thousand 341 persons have got employment since April 1, 2020, through employment fairs and self-employment schemes in Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori. In the Investor Meet held on 18th August, 2021 at Balaghat, 16 industrialists agreed to invest 2800 crores. This will provide employment to 4000 people of the area. Along with this, an investment of about 300 crores was also agreed in 54 MSME units.

Good results of police action

Chief Minister Shri Chouhan told in the meeting that the joint action of the police forces of the three states has yielded good results in the tri-junction. Search operation and area domination has been increased. The Naxalite documents and the interrogation of the arrested Naxalites have made it clear that the amount of crores of rupees that had reached the contractors could not reach the Naxalites. Chief Minister Shri Chouhan informed that Madhya Pradesh Police has succeeded in killing 7 Naxalites and arresting 3 Naxalites in the last three years.