Jairam Ramesh visits Maoist affected village in Jharkhand

Latehar, May 1 (ANI): Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has visited a village in Maoist infested Jharkhand's Latehar District to review the level of development in that region.

Villagers used his visit to list their grievances and said the absence of medical facilities was a matter of prime concern.

"The problems of the village are many. There is no road, access to water is scarce and the most important is the lack of medical facilities in the village. There is no doctor to treat the villagers and if someone is serious then he must be taken to Latehar or Ranchi, till the time the person does not make it. Lack of medical facilities and doctors is the biggest problem in the village," said Dinesh, Urav, a villager.

Members of the security forces stationed in the district stressed that in the three point agenda of security, development and politics in the region, the clause of security had been completed and now development in the region was a top priority.

"Security, development and politics are the three initiatives of the minister. We have ensured the security of the region and now the area awaits development, the road needs to be constructed, the school needs to be functional and the local village centre will be inaugurated, the local health centre will be inaugurated. The development process has begun, it is going on at a slow pace but it will pick up speed," said D.K. Pandey, Inspector General (IG), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

Ramesh moved around the village on the back of a motorcycle after inaugurating a much-needed medical centre.

He later attended a village council meeting, where the responsibility of constructing the nine roads, a project that has been in the pipeline for over two years, was placed before the village council.

"We are trying to build roads for the development and welfare of the people and I hope that the nine rural roads in Latehar, which could not be constructed for the past couple of years, there black topping cannot be completed because the contractors say they have not received the permission from the Maoists. In such a situation, I completely agree that we should grant this responsibility of road construction to the village council," said Ramesh. (ANI)