Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen on Sunday put forth five proposals before the Centre during a review meeting on the security situation and the implementation of development projects in Naxal-affected areas.
Chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the review meeting was conducted in New Delhi. The Odisha CM during the meeting urged the Union Government to consider the following proposals:
1. 4-laning of Jeypore-Motu road
Four laning of road (NH 326) from Jeypore to Motu via Malkangiri. This will provide a parallel road for traffic from eastern India, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand to the southern states, especially Bangalore and Hyderabad. This corridor, in addition to reducing the travel time substantially, will also provide huge economic impetus to the region.
2. Rail connectivity in Maoist-affected areas
The LWE affected districts are not pan of the Railways network. Railway Ministry and Odisha Government are already constructing two legs – from Jeypore to Nabarangpur and Jeypore to Malkangiri — through cost sharing basis. However, the missing part between Malkangiri to Bhadrachalam (153 KM) and Nabarangpur to Junagarh ( 118 KM) can provide a very viable alternative path to the trunk routes of railway and have a huge impact on economic growth of these areas.
3. Special focus on students in Maoist-infested regions so that they can clear exams like NEET, IIT & JEE
MHA should do a study on how many children from these LWE-affected areas across the country are successful in national level exams like NEET, IIT JEE etc..
4. Extension of mobile connectivity in southern & western Odisha & setting up of 448 mobile towers in 6278 villages that lack mobile connectivity
Providing mobile connectivity to areas of southern and western Odisha. There are 6278 villages in Odisha without any mobile access or connectivity. Union Home Ministry has sanctioned 488 number of mobile towers for Odisha recently. But to provide coverage to other uncovered villages, an estimated 2000 more mobile base stations are required. It is also pertinent to mention here that most interiors depend on mobile connectivity and mobile internet service for banking, education and delivery of all government services. Today, the basic need, therefore, is of 4G mobile base stations at all places. It is therefore required to upgrade the 2G base stations erected earlier.
5. Improvement in banking facilities in the Maoist-affected regions
We have not been successful in creating banking facilities in these areas. State government will provide land, building etc. for setting up bank branches free of cost. I would urge the Union Government to take expeditious steps to set up banks within a specific time frame of one year or so. “The State government’s commitment will continue with our pro-active security strategy combined with sustained and holistic development of tribal areas to address the issue of left wing extremism.
Among others, the Chief Ministers of Telangana, Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand were in the meeting.
The Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala were also invited for the meeting. However, these four states were represented by either a state minister or top officials.
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