Ranchi, March 4: The Saranda model of development will be replicated in 10 other Naxalite strongholds, the BJP-led state government decided today in a surprising acknowledgement of an idea that was conceived and nursed by its political arch-rival UPA.
Chief secretary Rajiv Gauba, who had recently been to Saranda in West Singhbhum, which was once the so-called eastern regional headquarters of the CPI(Maoist), has already held meetings with top CRPF officers to replicate the Saranda Development Plan (SDP) in specifically chosen vulnerable areas (see chart).
Chief secretary Rajiv Gauba told The Telegraph that the state would launch an "SDP type of initiative" in at least 10 areas in different districts.
A brainchild of former Union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh, the Rs 249-crore, multi-pronged SDP gave equal weight to security and development in rebel and "cleansed" areas.
The SDP apparently works as an idea but needs better implementation.
"The same model (SDP) has to be replicated in all the areas where the after-effects of LWE are acute. Respective divisional commissioners, acting as project nodal officers, would draw up elaborate security and development plans," chief secretary Gauba added.
Rural works department principal secretary S.K. Satpathy said the state government was giving serious thought to SDP-type intervention in Naxalite areas.
"A good number of votes from Saranda during Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls last year suggested that people living under the "LWE shadow" had not lost faith in democracy," he said, implying that the encouraging voter turnout in rebel strongholds was one of the prime movers behind this idea.
The CRPF, with 22 battalions in Jharkhand including special strike force CoBRA, and state police have already shown Gauba their presentations on the matter.
"Just like Saranda in West Singhbhum, many other areas across the state have similar problems, say Jhumra along Bokaro-Hazaribagh borders, Shikaripara in Dumka, Bhandaria in Garhwa and certain pockets of Gumla, Palamau and Khunti. In these places too, development and security initiatives need to go hand in hand to keep Naxalites out and give people an ambience to flourish," said a senior CRPF officer.
One of his colleagues explained why the SDP could be replicated.
"It is an amalgamation of central and state sponsored schemes such as homes for BPL beneficiaries under Indira Awas Yojana, rural roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, livelihoods under National Rural Livelihood Mission. Provisions to set up CRPF and police camps coexists," he explained.
As many as 29 roads have been identified in various LWE-affected districts for widening and security beef-up. In Sarju-Kone, Latehar, two bridges over rivers Koel and Chopat need to be built.
CRPF inspector general (operations) R.K. Mishra summed up the advantages of replicating an SDP-like plan.
"Maoists have been pushed back to deep pockets. If we act proactively in security and development fronts, socio-economic threats that instigate people to turn to Naxalism would be wiped out," he said.
