The Mohd. Mahmood Ali, Hon’ble Minister for Home, Government of Telangana attended at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on the review meeting of LWE( Left wing Extremism) with Chief Ministers of affected states. At the outset, I would like to mention that Telangana State curbed the activities of Left Wing Extremism, very effectively. There was deliberate propoganda that formation of separate State of Telangana will intensify Left Wing Extremism, which the Telangana Government proved wrong with its effective steps including developmental & welfare activities and stringent efforts of Police Department.
On behalf of Government of Telangana, I would like to express our point of view regarding tackling of Left Wing Extremism in the country in a coordinated manner.
Left Wing Extremism activities in Telangana are very much under control and violence is almost contained. Occasionally, small teams of Maoists are entering Telangana State to show their existence. Due to various awareness and development programmes undertaken, the people are keeping the Maoists away.
There are states like ours, which had successfully uprooted this risk; Unless this problem is resolved in the neighbouring and other states,it would continue to raise its ugly head.
At the state level, we had adopted a two way approach. Firstly, tackling LWE strictly as a law and order problem and secondly, by opening communication and providing better health, education and skill development to have all round development in the affected area.
The quantum of central share further goes down in terms of restrictions imposed on the width of roads. The Central Government has prescribed 5.5 mtrs, which is insufficient for movement of two vehicles. Therefore, the State Government is adopting a width of 7 mtrs Carriage Bridge. We would request to increase the width of Carriage Bridge to 7 mtrs to make it useful for future also.
In 2018 instructions were issued to exempt land for compensatory afforestation from 5 Hectare to 40 Hectare. However, in 2019 guidelines issued by the MoEFCC (Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Changes) this condition was dropped. As most of the road and bridge works in LWE areas, substantial forest is involved. In case of Telangana, out of 450 Kms roads, 250 Kms comes under Forest. Arranging compensatory afforestation land is time consuming and a long process. It is, therefore, requested to exempt up to 40 Hectare of forest diversion not requiring compensatory afforestation land. Of course, the condition of plantation in degraded forest may be continued. We have also taken steps for the skill and other development needs of the youth in LWE affected areas. I look forward to your support.
