The Madhya Pradesh government has claimed that there is a positive change in the “Naxalite-affected areas” in the state where development related works are being taken up on priority.
The state government, in a statement here said that Madhya Pradesh has emerged as a leading state in taking up works under the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for selected tribal and backward districts.
The Madhya Pradesh districts being covered under IAP are Anuppur, Balaghat, Dindori, Mandla, Seoni, Shahdol, Sidhi, and Umaria. The Madhya Pradesh government’s statement issued here on Saturday means that the government is formally accepting that the area falling within these districts is affected by the Maoist problem. State chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, on earlier occasions, has urged the Centre to include seven state districts into the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme meant for the Maoist-affected districts.
The IAP for selected tribal and backward districts covers 78 districts spread across Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgargh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The IAP is being implemented with a block grant of `25 crores and `30 crores per district during the current fiscal. A committee headed by district collector or district magistrate and consisting of the superintendent of police of the district and the district forest officer are responsible for implementation of this scheme, which focuses on public infrastructure and services such as school buildings, anganwadi centres, primary health centres, drinking water supply, village roads, electric lights in public places such as PHCs and schools.
According to the latest figures projected online by the Planning Commission till December 31, 2011, a total of 5,243 works were started in eight districts and 1,437 of these have been completed .