30 Maoist-hit areas to get central fund of Rs580 crore

New Delhi: The Union home ministry has stepped in to facilitate construction of 250 fortified police stations in the left-wing extremism (LWE)-affected areas of Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

While Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have been facing Maoist threats for long, Kerala’s Malappuram, Wayanad and Palakad districts were included in the list last year, ET has learnt.

“Discussions were held under special infrastructure scheme to examine the plans of the governments of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Chhattisgarh,” said a home ministry official, who did not wish to be identified. “The purpose of building fortified police stations is to plug chances of Maoists easily storming into police stations or carrying out a direct gunfire attack from outside.

The home ministry has further approved special central assistance of ?580 crore for 30 worst-affected districts in seven states.” Jharkhand has the highest number of worst-affected districts, followed by Chhattisgarh and Bihar. Officials said the special allowance for 30 districts would “fill the critical gaps in public infrastructure and services, which are of emergent nature”.

The list of LWE-affected districts was pruned last year to 90 districts in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh.

The presence of Maoists in three districts of Kerala was flagged by intelligence agencies.