New Delhi, Sep 26 (PTI) Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Sunday urged the Union Home Ministry to write off bills of Rs 10,000 crore raised against the deployment of central security forces in the left-wing extremism-affected areas of his state.

He said it is not pragmatic on the part of the Union government to demand money from the state governments for this.

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According to a statement by the Jharkhand government, Soren, at a review meeting held by Home Minister Amit Shah on the security situation in Naxal-affected states, said the problem of left-wing extremism is "a big challenge" for both the Central and state governments.

"I have been informed that till now a bill of Rs 10,000 crore has been raised by the Ministry of Home Affairs, against the state of Jharkhand for the deployment of the central security forces.

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"It is my humble request that these bills be written off and also the Union government should take a decision not to send such bills to the state governments in the future," he said.

The Central and state governments have to deal with this problem together on the principle of cooperative federalism, the Jharkhand chief minister said.

"In this scenario, it does not seem pragmatic on the part of the Union government to demand money from the state governments for the deployment of the central security forces," Soren said.

He also urged the Home Ministry to restore implementation of certain schemes in all the districts affected by left-wing extremism.

"It has been observed that for some districts these schemes were suddenly rolled back, thereby hurting the efforts being made towards the eradication of extremism.

"I do not know the criteria upon which the decision was taken to discontinue these schemes. But I would like to say that absence of incidents of extremism cannot be the basis for concluding that extremism has been eradicated in that district," he said.

Soren stressed that the sudden discontinuation of schemes may allow left-wing extremism to take shape again in the region.

The Special Central Assistance scheme, under which Rs 33 crore is provided by the Union government to each district, has played a commendable role in filling the critical infrastructure gap, he said.

"Initially, this scheme was sanctioned for 16 districts, but this year only eight districts have been included in this scheme. Similarly, Koderma, Ramgarh and Simdega districts have been excluded from the security-related expenditure scheme," the Jharkhand chief minister said.

"Therefore, it will be my request to continue both these schemes in all the Naxal-affected districts for the next five years. Sudden discontinuation of schemes and reduction in central assistance in Naxal-affected areas is unfortunate," he said.

Soren urged the Centre to approve his government's proposal of laying 775 km road under the Road Connectivity Project for Naxal-affected areas of the Union Ministry for Rural development and another proposition for construction of 1,068 km of roads under another central scheme.

It is necessary to improve connectivity in Naxal-affected districts, he said.

The Jharkhand chief minister also requested for increasing the minimum daily wage of MGNREGA workers, saying the scheme is one such effective measure that can be leveraged to improve the standards of living in the areas affected by left-wing extremism.

Soren said the problem of Naxalism lies beyond security measures.

"Naxalism can be tackled at two different levels. One is through security measures and the other is via ideological measures. It will be dishonesty on our part if we do not deliberate upon improving the socio-economic condition of left-wing extremism affected areas," he said.

He urged the Centre to approve his government's proposal to upgrade 782 mobile towers from 2G to 4G and install mobile towers at 1,052 new locations at the earliest.

Soren said there has been a steady decline in the Naxal violence in Jharkhand due to an "effective action" being taken against the Naxal organisations.

"As a result of these operations, the presence of hardcore extremists in the state has been limited to mainly Parasnath Pahar, Budha Pahar, tri-junction of Seraikela-Khunti-Chaibasa district, Kolhan area and some areas along the Bihar border," he said.

Soren sought cooperation from the neighbouring Chhattisgarh government for carrying out a joint anti-Naxal operation in the Budha Pahar region

"In our state, Naxals have made Budha Pahar, an inaccessible place, their sanctuary. A large portion of this area falls in Chhattisgarh. So far, no major operation has been conducted against the Naxals in this region. This is possible only with the help and support of Chhattisgarh," he said.

Soren assured the Home Minister that there will always be better coordination between Jharkhand and the Central government in anti-Naxal operations. "I am certain that all of us together will win this battle," he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)