Chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday said that the state will urge the Centre to release more funds to combat Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) in Chhattisgarh.
“Chhattisgarh is engaged in a direct fight with the Maoists,” he said while speaking to reporters before leaving for Delhi to attend a meeting of chief ministers of LWE-affected states. The meeting will be chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday.
The chief minister said, Centre had slashed the funds being provided to the state to combat Maoism. While the state used to get 100% of funds when BJP was in power, Modi government has now fixed a 60-40 formula, he said, adding that the state will demand a substantial increase in funds to effectively deal with the Maoism problem.
Earlier, the chief minister had a meeting with senior civil and police officials to review the development works and anti-Maoist operations being carried out in the affected districts to prepare an agenda for the meeting with the Union home minister. Official circles said Monday’s meeting at New Delhi assumes significance as it could hammer out a strategy to deal with the Maoists following reports that the rebels are stepping up their activities in the tri-junction of Chhattisgarh, MP and Maharashtra.
