Helicopters to be deployed in Naxal affected areas, discloses Chidambaram

New Delhi, Sep 30 (ANI): Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said here today that six MI-17 helicopters would be hired on wet lease for anti naxal operations.

He disclosed this here today while presenting the report card of the Ministry of Home Affairs for September 2011.

Chidambaram said that the Government of India is providing assistance to the Left Wing Extremist affected districts. Appropriate development scheme were discussed with the district collectors and CEOs of the LWE affected districts here on September 13.

Chidambaram disclosed that 57.59 crore was released to the States of Chhattisgarh (' 3.06 crore), Jharkhand (' 48.22 crore) and West Bengal (' 6.31 crore) as reimbursement towards the expenditure incurred by these States on anti-naxal operations under the SRE scheme for the year 2010-11 ome Minister disclosed that 100 crore was released to the LWE-affected States for the scheme of construction and strengthening of fortified police stations. A sum of ' 1.14 crore was sanctioned as assistance to 38 beneficiaries at the rate of ' 3 lakh each under the Central scheme of assistance to the victims of terrorist/communal/naxal violence,.

He said on September 20 ' 34.60 crore was reimbursed to the Government of Jammu and Kashmir under SRE scheme.

The three interlocutors visited Samba, Baramulla, Shopian and Kupwara in J andK during September 15-21 and interacted with a cross-section of the people including leaders, students and opinion makers. I am happy to report that the interlocutors have visited all the districts of J-K and are now preparing their final report," he added.

On north-east, he said: " On September 3 the first Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement was signed with the ULFA. Owing to the persistent efforts of Ministry of Home Affairs, the 4th and 5th phases of repatriation of Brus are under way during September 16-30 and October 11-25, 2011, respectively. A total of approximately 2000 Bru families are likely to be repatriated.

Talking about border management, he said: "India-Bangladesh Border: 12 kms of fencing and 17 kms of road works were completed in September, 2011 under phase II of the project. 13 kms of fencing were replaced in September, 2011 under phase III of the project. Poles for floodlighting were erected on a length of 20 kms and cables were laid on 20 kms stretch in September, 2011.

On coastal security, Chidambaram said: " On September 20 an amount of ' 8.78 crore was released to the coastal States/UTs for construction of Coastal Police Stations and Jetties.

He said in September, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams comprising 1601 personnel and 197 boats were deployed for emergency response and rescue operations in the flood-prone States of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Kerala, Orissa, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. In addition, 243 NDRF personnel were deployed for various other search, relief and rescue operations in the States of Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

He further said in the aftermath of the earthquake in Sikkim, 10 teams comprising of 420 NDRF personnel with 14 dogs and equipment have been deployed for rescue and relief operations. (ANI)