Left-wing extremism declining: Rajnath Singh

Vishakhapatnam: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday reviewed the Maoist situation in Andhra Pradesh and assured the state of all possible help from the Centre.

At a meeting with senior officials, he said the Left-wing extremism situation in the country has shown massive improvement in the recent months, with number of violence incidents coming down to 1,088 in 2015.

Highlighting the achievements of the security agencies, Singh said the spread of LWE-affected districts declined to 141 in 2015 from 162 districts in 2014.

"The security agencies and the developmental programmes and policies of the government deserve the credit for this improved scenario," he said.

Praising the role of Andhra Pradesh Police in leading the fight against naxals, the home minister stressed the need for cooperation between Andhra Pradesh and its neighbouring states, and appreciated the recent successes of Andhra Pradesh Police and its agencies in inter-state operations.

As per the Centre's plans to construct fortified police stations in naxal-hit states, construction of 11 such police stations has been completed, while work is under progress on three others.

The Home Ministry has also approved one extra battalion of BSF to Andhra Pradesh for deployment in Maoist-affected areas.

Assuring the state government of speedy clearance of projects, Singh said under the Road Requirement Plan (RRP)-2, the Centre has approved the construction of 1,200 kms of road in Andhra Pradesh out of total 5,400 kms to be constructed across the country.

The communication network in LWE-affected areas of Andhra Pradesh has been strengthened and out of 53 mobile towers allotted in first phase, 33 were already activated and the remaining 20 were under construction.

Maoists-hit states witnessed lowest violence in six years, with casualties and incidents coming down substantially in 2015.

While nearly one lakh paramilitary personnel continued to be deployed in LWE-affected areas, 10 naxal-hit states -- Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh -- saw 226 deaths in 1,088 incidents of violence perpetrated by Maoists last year.

According to Home Ministry statistics, in 2010, there were 2,213 incidents of violence in which 1,005 people lost their lives and in 2011, a total of 611 people were killed in 1,760 incidents.

In 2014, there were 1,091 incidents of Maoist violence in the 10 states in which 310 people lost their lives.

In 2015, of the 226 deaths, 168 were civilians and 58 were security forces personnel. As many as 89 Maoists were also killed and 1,668 were arrested and 570 cadres surrendered before authorities during the year.

In 2014, out of the 310 casualties, 222 were civilians and 88 personnel of security forces. A total of 63 naxals were killed that year, while 1,696 cadres were arrested and 676 others surrendered.

The Maoists attacks on security forces have also come down -- from 155 in 2014 to 118 in 2015 while encounters between security forces and the rebels have increased -- from 221 in 2014 to 247 in 2015.

In 2015, total of 723 arms were recovered from naxals by the security forces, 18 arms were snatched by the Maoists and 18 arms training camps were held by the rebels.

In 2014, as many as 548 arms were recovered, 58 arms were snatched and 34 arms training camps were held by the Maoists.