The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Collectors told to tackle naxal violence firmly

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Friday, Dec 03, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Collectors told to tackle naxal violence firmly

By Our Special Correspondent

The Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, addressing the Collectors' conference in Hyderabad on Thursday.

HYDERABAD, DEC. 2. The Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has asked Collectors to ruthlessly enforce the law if naxalites indulge in violence, intimidation, extortion and carrying weapons during the peace process.

Inaugurating a two-day conference of district Collectors at the Jubilee Hall here on Thursday, he said the law should take its own course in all such cases, and reminded them that maintenance of law and order was their duty. He stated that talks were a political process not connected with maintenance of law and order. He made it clear that the talks would continue.

The Chief Minister said he had taken steps to tackle the extremist problem from the socio-economic angle also. He cited the plan to distribute 1 lakh acres of land on January 26 besides the Rs. 500-crore Indira Prabha programme to develop degraded lands given to the weaker sections. He asked the Collectors to undertake recruitment of youth as home guards and for private employment since unemployment was the root cause of extremism.

`Monumental neglect'

In a forceful two-hour speech in which he tried to explain his line of thinking to the Collectors, Dr. Reddy criticised his predecessor for his "monumental neglect" of the farm sector. He later held an in-camera interaction with Collectors seeking feedback on different issues such as farmers' suicides.

Dr. Reddy said agriculture and irrigation were his Government's top priorities but without prejudice to other sectors, especially IT and industries. He advised the Collectors to expedite the execution of irrigation projects by settling problems of land acquisition and tackling social issues. Attributing the suicides by farmers to previous policies, he contended that farmers would not have resorted to the extreme step had initiatives like free power supply been taken earlier.

`Beg, borrow, steal'

In a lighter vein, he asked the Collectors to "beg, borrow, steal" for extending succour to the poor, and hoped that the press would not interpret this as Chief Minister advising them to steal. Dr. Reddy idealised grievance-redressal, saying that there were problems in every household and asking Collectors to set aside Mondays to meet people and avoid tours all through the week.

He was receiving 200 petitions per day. During Rajiv Pallebata in 19 districts so far, 38,363 petitions had been received and 20,563 were responded. He made 838 promises, of which 231 were implemented.

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