New Delhi: Naxal violence has dipped in AP even as the spread of the Maoist influence and activities across the Red zone in Left-wing extremism-affected states was restricted to 141 districts in 2015 from 162 districts in 2014.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday reviewed the Naxal threat in AP and other states at a meeting with senior officials in Visakhapatnam where he credited security agencies, developmental programmes and policies of the government for the improved scenario.
Mr Singh said that the LWE situation in the country has shown massive improvement in the recent months, with the number of incidences of violence coming down to 1,088 in 2015.
Praising the role of the state police in leading the fight against Naxals, he stressed the need for cooperation between AP and its neighbouring states.
The state has already completed construction of 11 fortified police stations, Mr Sing was informed. The MHA has also approved one extra battalion of BSF to AP with Mr Singh assuring the state of the fast implementation of the decision.
Assuring the state government of speedy clearance of projects, he said under the Road Requirement Plan (RRP)-2, the Centre has approved laying of 1,200-km of roads in AP out of total 5,400-km to be laid across the country.
Construction of 53 mobile towers has been allotted under the first phase to boost the communication network in LWE-affected areas of AP. Of these, 33 towers have already been activated.
They will aid security forces and bridge the disconnect between the far flung areas under Maoist influence. The remaining 20 are under construction, the meeting was informed.
Mr Singh observed that Maoists-hit states witnessed lowest violence in six years, with casualties and incidents coming down substantially in 2015.
While nearly one lakh paramilitary personnel continued to be deployed in LWE-affected areas, 10 Naxal-hit states -- AP, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, TS, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh -- saw 226 deaths in 1,088 incidents of violence perpetrated by Maoists last year.
According to Home Ministry statistics, in 2010, there were 2,213 incidents of violence in which 1,005 people lost their lives and in 2011, a total of 611 people were killed in 1,760 incidents.
In 2014, there were 1,091 incidents of Maoist violence in the 10 states in which 310 people lost their lives. In 2015, of the 226 deaths, 168 were civilians and 58 were security forces personnel.
As many as 89 Maoists were also killed and 1,668 were arrested and 570 cadres surrendered before authorities during the year.
