Economic infrastructure remains the main target for Naxals

However there has been a marginal declined in incidents of damage to economic infrastructure by the Left Wing Extremists, yet it has been clear that the attack on economic infrastructure of the country was first priority by the Extremists.

Sources say that since 2009, a total number of around 1183 incidents of damage to economic infrastructure by the Maoists have been reported from different parts of the country. The infrastructure destroyed includes property belonging to Public/ Private sector units, Railway property, Telephone Exchanges/ Mobile towers, Power infrastructure, Roads, School and Panchayat buildings etc. The damage in money terms runs into hundreds of crores.

There is a marginal decline in incidents of damage to economic infrastructure by the Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) in the country during the last three years. Such incidents have come down in the current year (up to July 31) also, compared to the corresponding period of 2011. The details of incidents of damage to economic infrastructure by the LWE in the country during the last three years and the current year are annexed.

'Police' and 'Public Order' being State subjects, action with respect to maintenance of law and order lies primarily in the demain of the state governments concerned. The central Government has a holistic approach towards combating LWE wherein it supplements the efforts of the State Governments over a wide range of issues including deployment of CAPFs, assistance in implementation of development schemes, improving governance and capacity building by the States in various areas. It is the belief of the Government of India that a combination of calibrated police action, focused development efforts and improvement in governance will yield the desired results against LWE.

This was stated by Jitendra Singh, Minister of State of Home Affairs in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

(With inputs from PIB)