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Chhattisgarh is not doing enough: Minister

Special Correspondent

Efforts to rein in naxal groups lacking: Jaiswal

Shri Prakash Jaiswal

LUCKNOW: Union Minister of State for Home Sri Prakash Jaiswal on Friday said efforts to rein in naxal goups were lacking in Chhattisgarh.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government in the State was not getting its police personnel trained adequately to tackle the menace. It was a matter of concern that many Central Reserve Police Force personnel and some policemen were killed in the recent naxal attack in the State, he said at a press conference here on Friday.

Cites Andhra Pradesh

Mr. Jaiswal said Chhattisgarh should take a cue from Andhra Pradesh, where the problem had been contained to a large extent.

The Andhra Government had launched a massive development initiative in the naxal-affected regions and it served as an antidote to the problem.

The Minister also lauded the Left Front Government in West Bengal for tackling the menace.

Barring the naxalite problem, the internal security in the country had improved in the last three years, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir and northeast. For the first time in the last 10 years, the situation in Jammu and Kashmir had improved, with infiltration checked effectively, he claimed.

Mr. Jaiswal said terror incidents had decreased in the last six months and inputs provided to the State Governments by the Union Home Ministry yielded positive results in the form of arrest of militants in Uttar Pradesh and other States.

Dismisses charges

He dismissed the National Democratic Alliance’s allegation that phones of some of its leaders were being tapped. Such baseless allegations in the run-up to the Presidential election only suggested that the NDA was wary of defeat of Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

He drew a parallel to the allegations made by the Samajwadi Party during the recent Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

Terming the allegations levelled by the BJP against the United Progressive Alliance’s presidential candidate Pratibha Patil as unfortunate, the Minister dubbed it a conspiracy to pollute the political environment.

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