CMs’ review meet by Amit Shah: YS Jagan says Left Wing Extremism contained to large extent

NEW DELHI: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy affirmed that the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) is on the wane in the State and Maoist activities are contained to only a few pockets of agency areas.

YS Jagan participated in the review meeting on LWE chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah held here on Friday. In his address, the Chief Minister said, “Andhra Pradesh has been battling LWE for over four decades and the multi-pronged approach, comprising security measures, development initiatives, and safeguarding the rights and entitlements of local communities under the National Policy and Action Plan, has yielded positive results.”

YS Jagan said that the State Government had restricted the Maoist activities to a few pockets in Alluri Sitharama Raju and Parvathipuram Manyam districts from their original strength in five districts, while the LWE cadre strength had also came down to 50 in 2023 from 150 in 2019 by sharing intelligence with neighbouring Odisha, Telangana, and Chhattisgarh on tackling the LWE, he said.

“Andhra Pradesh Government has also effectively addressed the issues of poverty, illiteracy, inadequate healthcare and unemployment which are the root cause of the LWE. Tribals were counselled to cultivate alternate commercial crops,” YS Jagan said. All these measures were supplemented with strong efforts like distribution of RoFR pattas for bestowing ownership of 3.23 lakh acres of forest lands to 1.54 lakh eligible tribal farmers and completed laying of roads to an extent of 1,087 km in LWE areas under the Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas (RCPL WEA) scheme, he said.

“Out of the 28 Ekalavya schools sanctioned by the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry for AP, 24 have been established in tribal areas ensuring access to quality education for our Tribal children,” YS Jagan said, and added that the Government also initiated efforts to establish 944 communication towers in the LWE affected areas to enhance the connectivity and ensure a robust communication network in tribal areas.

The Chief Minister also said that the Government was also running as many as 1,953 primary schools, 81 residential schools, 378 Ashram schools and 179 Pre and Post matric hostels to help students in tribal areas besides extending the benefits of Amma Vodi and other welfare schemes through the dedicated volunteer system and village secretariats. Family doctors, with the support of village health clinics, were also extended to preventive health care to tribal people, he said, and stressed the need to establish more bank branches in the tribal areas.

“To prevent further spread of LWE, continuous and collaborative efforts are needed from both the Centre and the States. While maintaining law and order is a state subject, it is crucial for the Centre to provide unflinching financial and strategic support to LWE-affected States, particularly in areas of capacity-building, modernization of the police forces and developmental initiatives," YS Jagan said.