The stage is set for a confrontation over Integrated Action Plan — a key initiative of the UPA government to bridge the development deficits in backward areas, as the Union home minister has prepared a point by point rebuttal of Planning Commission’s objections. Top government officials said panchayats do not exist in the worst affected Naxal areas and even if some exist, they are in indirect control of the CPI(Maoist) leaders, making it virtually impossible to route the huge grants under IAP, to the tune of `30 crores per district, through them. The MHA has also rejected the Plan panel’s suggestion to provide funds for development of Naxal-infested districts under the existing Backward Regions Grant Fund of 2006 designed to redress regional imbalances in development by providing financial resources to 250 identified districts in the country.
Government officials said the BRGF’s performance has not been up to the mark even as the IAP is performing extremely well and appreciated by the state governments.
Government officials added that the Plan Panel has criticised the IAP on account of its coverage of Naxal areas saying that the worst-affected LWE districts are not benefiting.
Union home ministry maintains that development cannot proceed police action as the so-called liberated zones first have to be freed from Maoists’ control by deploying security forces. “The IAP has been pumping developmental activities in surrounding districts and area domination exercises are being carried out by security forces in the worst-affected zones. The positive outcome is that tribals and villagers in these areas are witnessing the developmental initiatives taken by the government around them and the Maoists are gradually getting alienated,” a top MHA official said.
The MHA is expected to register its protest at the highest level soon before any decision is taken on the IAP. It may be recalled that the Plan Panel and the home ministry have together been implementing the IAP since it was rolled out in 2010.