New Delhi, Oct 7: Days after security forces eliminated 31 Maoists in Chhattisgarh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will hold a review meeting with the Chief Ministers of eight left-wing extremism-affected states here on Monday, an official statement said.

The Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Telangana, Odisha, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh will participate in this crucial meeting on combating the Maoist menace.

Apart from Chief Ministers, the meeting will also be attended by five Union Ministers and senior officials of the Central ministries who are supporting these states in accelerating the development works in the LWE-affected areas. LWE is the acronym for Left-Wing Extremism. The Deputy National Security Advisor, senior officers of the Central Armed Police Forces and states will also participate in the meeting.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the guidance of Home Minister Shah, the Union government is committed to eliminating LWE by March 2026, and is providing all possible assistance to all the affected states, an official statement noted.

The Home Minister had chaired the previous review meeting with the Chief Ministers of LWE-affected states on October 6, 2023, and had then, given comprehensive guidelines to eradicate LWE.

Due to the strategy of PM Modi's government, there has been a 72 per cent reduction in violence and an 86 per cent reduction in deaths in 2023 as compared to 2010 and the fight against LWE is now in its last phase, the statement said.

Citing key figures for 2024 so far, it said that the security forces have had unprecedented success against the Maoists. As many as 202 ultras have been killed while 723 have surrendered in the first nine months of this year. With this, the number of LWE-affected districts will be reduced to only 38 in 2024.

The Union government has also taken concrete steps to take forward welfare schemes to remote areas of the states affected by Maoist insurgency, with special emphasis being given to road and mobile connectivity in Maoist-affected areas.

At present, 14,400 km of roads have been constructed in such areas and about 6,000 mobile towers have been installed.

--IANS
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