Special package to be provided for 3 districts once affected by Naxal violence, says MP CM Yadav

Bhopal, Dec 13 (PTI) After declaring the state to be free of Naxalism, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Saturday said his government would provide a special package to the districts of Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori, once affected by Maoist violence.

The elimination of Naxalism was the biggest achievement of his government's tenure so far, Yadav told PTI in an interview on completing two years in office.

"A special package will be provided for Naxal-affected Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori for development. We want them to become model districts for the future. The last 20-25 years have been very bad, so we are preparing a concrete plan to bring them closer to the rest of the advanced districts," he said.

Yadav, who took oath as chief minister on December 13, 2023, had claimed earlier this week that Madhya Pradesh had become Naxalism-free ahead of the Centre's target date of March 31, 2026.

"The elimination of Naxalism from the state is the biggest achievement of my two-year tenure. The government will now take all necessary steps to ensure this `snake' does not raise its hood again," he said.

By resolving to eliminate the decades-old challenge of Maoism by March 31, 2026, Prime Minister Narendra Modi set the goal of building a Naxal-free India, while Union Home Minister Amit Shah worked with determination to achieve the target, Yadav said.

The chief minister criticized past Congress governments for failing to formulate a concrete strategy against Naxalism, which he said first surfaced in Madhya Pradesh in 1990.

"It's true that for the last 35-40 years, our entire region was affected by various factors, and the biggest reason was Naxalite activities. It's also true that such incidents increased during the Congress regime, and the Congress party consistently ignored them, even though Congress members were killed," he said.

Several police personnel also lost their lives in Naxalite attacks, and there was an incident where a state minister was dragged out of his house by Maoists and bludgeoned to death, Yadav noted.

"Congress governments were in power in both Madhya Pradesh and at the Centre. Even after major violent incidents, neither a concrete plan nor a concrete strategy was devised to eradicate Naxalism. The result was that Naxalite incidents continued to occur daily, and our people continued to be killed," the CM said.

Asked about deforestation in Singrauli district and the opposition party's allegation that the BJP government was working in the interests of industrialists, Yadav said, "Congress's job is to keep whining. We can't do anything about it. Congress never likes development. It always creates obstacles.

"Tell me how many tiger reserves were there during Congress rule. There were three, we increased the number to nine and are continuously adding to them. We are moving towards a tenth. We are making every effort to further expand tiger reserves," said the chief minister.

In 55 years, the area under irrigation stood at 7.5 lakh hectares, today it has grown to over 52 lakh hectares, he said, adding that while there were only five medical colleges when the opposition party ruled, now there are around 40. "Congress is lagging far behind. It only does its own work, we leave it to its own fate," Yadav added. PTI MAS KRK