Revanth to Shah: Add 3 Districts to LWE List

Hyderabad: Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Monday urged the Centre to reinstate the districts of Adilabad, Mancherial and Komaram Bheem Asifabad in the list of Left-Wing Extremism Affected (LWE) districts. These three districts were removed from the LWE list in the past.

Participating in the meeting of the Chief Ministers of LWE-affected states convened by Union home minister Amit Shah in Delhi, Revanth Reddy appealed to the Centre to pay more focus on the security of Telangana state which shares border with the LWE-affected states of Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.

According to official sources, Revanth Reddy pointed out during the meeting that new districts have been carved out in Telangana for the last few years adding to the cumulative numbers of LWE-affected districts in Telangana.

Sources added that home minister Amit Shah flagged the need to set up security camps for central security forces in some of the districts of Telangana where the CPI-Maoist is attempting to regroup and increase its influence after the Chief Minister told him that the CPI-Maoists are trying to expand its influence by leveraging the favourable terrain in the forested hills along the Telangana-Chhattisgarh border.

Considering the internal security, the Chief Minister urged the Union home minister to set up CRPF's Joint Task Force (JTF) camps in Kondawai of Charla mandal of Bhadradri Kothagudem district and Alubaka of Venkatapuram mandal of Mulugu district.

Revanth Reddy also requested Shah to release 60 per cent of the central share of Rs.18.31 crores, which has been pending for the last four years, for Special Police Officers (SPOs). He also requested the Centre to relax the rules to include 1,065 staff in the SPOs.

The Chief Minister requested Amit Shah to strengthen the police stations of Peruru, Mulugu, Kannaigudem in Mulugu district and Palimela, Mahamutharam and Kataram in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district on the borders of Telangana.

He also brought to the notice of the Union minister that the Centre has released insufficient funds of Rs 6.70 crore to Telangana for Special Infrastructure Scheme (SIS) and requested the release of Rs 23.56 crore for police forces training in tune with the advanced requirements.

Revanth Reddy requested the Union home minister to allocate 29 additional IPS posts to Telangana state, stating that only 76 IPS officers were allotted to Telangana during the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh..