Bhubaneswar: Union Cabinet Secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha and Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi discussed through video conferencing ways to speed up development in the Naxal affected districts of Odisha Monday.
The meeting discussed electrification, television distribution, road development, providing renewable sources of energy, education and establishment of girls’ hostels.
After the meeting the Chief Secretary said that at present most Naxal areas have electricity except some villages of Koraput and Malkangiri.
The state government requested the Centre to upgrade old mobile phone towers in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) hit areas of the state, Padhi said.
He said the Cabinet Secretary reviewed development projects in LWE areas. Lack of banking facilities and poor mobile phone connectivity in these areas were highlighted by Odisha during the meeting.
“Malkangiri and Koraput have been classified as the most affected LWE districts.
Both the districts lack banks and alternative means of banking like banking correspondents and as a result we are unable to implement the National Food Security Act (NFSA) through point of sale (POS) devices and direct benefit transfer schemes,” said Padhi.
While mobile phone connectivity in LWE areas is low, connectivity in some areas is 2G which cannot cope with present technology, said Padhi.
“The Centre has sanctioned 483 new mobile phone towers, but work has not progressed and we have requested to upgrade old towers,” he added.
In Koraput 101 schools are functioning and students are studying there. In Malkangiri out of 58 schools work on 56 schools has been completed and classes have started. Twenty-one girls’ hostels are being constructed in these two districts.
In both the districts 21 Kasturba Gandhi Girls High Schools have been started and 2,100 students are studying there.
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