Hyderabad, February 02: The Chief Minister, Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, on Tuesday said that his government has left no stone unturned in effectively tackling issues impinging on Internal Security. “Our State has a comprehensive strategy that has worked well all these years”, he added.
Speaking at the Chief Ministers’ Conference on Internal Security held here today, Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy said that as pointed out by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and the Union Home Minister, Mr P Chidambaram, two major issues Left wing extremism and LeT related terrorism confront the country’s internal security apparatus and Andhra Pradesh has been dealing with both the issues with remarkable results. “The State is prepared to face any challenge in this regard.”
Referring to Left-wing extremism, the Chief Minister said that the State had the problem of violence by left¬wing extremists for the last 40 years and over the years, depending on the situation at the ground level, the government put in place suitable mechanisms to address the root of the problem at physical and socio-economic levels. As left-wing extremists have been adopting guerilla-tactics, the police too have developed anti-guerilla forces at all levels, he added. In this connection, an elite force “Grey Hounds” has been operating at the State level, while comparable teams known as “District Guards” are operating at the district level, he said, adding that these forces were trained to comb the forest areas, which are known to be the main shelters for Naxalites.
He also said that a special wing called “Special Intelligence Branch” (SIB) was after top ranking underground extremists both inside and outside the State. The wing has been posting excellent results, year after year, he added. His government has taken tangible steps on the socio-economic front, particularly in respect of land distribution. In all, 6, 08,613 acres of government land, in tribal and non-tribal areas, was distributed between 2001 and 2009 among 4, 34,593 beneficiaries. Post-2009, the government distributed pattas of 13, 04,000 acres of forest land to 1, 81,969 tribal beneficiaries who had been cultivating it.
He explained that in 2005, a new department named “Remote & Interior Areas Development” (RIAD) was created mainly to fill gaps in problem areas. This includes laying and strengthening road network in interior areas; building communications; establishing schools and hostels etc. The work of the RIAD has toned up the delivery mechanism of the administration and streamlined security operations.
–Source Teluguone