Home Ministry to review Maoist situation with affected states soon

Sources also said that Home Minister Amit Shah will be discussing, with Chief Ministers of such states, the ground situation and formulation of a new strategy to take decisive action against these ultras.

The progress of the various infrastructural developmental schemes such as road requirement and connectivity, and also of aspirational districts programme in 35 LWE-affected districts will also be taken up, they added.

Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Kerala are LWE-affected states, to varying degrees.

Officials in the security set-up said that the number of most-affected districts in terms of Maoist violence has also come down from 30 to 25. These districts account for 85 per cent of Maoist violence.

The Ministry will also review why the Maoist footprint has increased in Madhya Pradesh's Mandla district, which has been classified as 'District of Concern', while the state's Balaghat has been upgraded to a 'Most Affected District', among the 25.

Recently, the MHA has removed 20 districts from the list of 90 Maoist affected districts for central funding under the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme, sources said.

Uttar Pradesh is completely out of the coverage of the SRE scheme as its three districts, Chandauli, Mirzapur and Sonebhadra, are no longer required for target interventions to contain these ultras, officials said.

Under the SRE scheme, the Centre reimburses the bulk of the expenditure incurred by the states, including ex-gratia payment to civilians and security personnel killed by the ultras, besides the expenses on mobility, logistics and communication and also for the ammunition used for operations against the ultras by the Central paramilitary and police forces.