Raipur, June 23 (IANS) The central government has sanctioned Rs.600 crore for infrastructure development in the Maoist-hit Bastar region, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said Wednesday.
The amount has been sanctioned for the leftist-insurgency hit area for building up infrastructure, Singh said, while addressing a meeting of top government officials and people’s representatives at Jagdalpur town, headquarters of state’s restive Bastar region.
He announced that security and development will go hand-in-hand in insurgency-hit 40,000 sq km mineral-rich Bastar region.
The government will ensure construction of roads even in interior areas besides improving health and education facilities.
The forested Bastar region includes Dantewada, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar and Kanker districts.
Police say the government has no presence in an estimated 450-500 villages of the region where 1,750 people have lost their lives in Maoist violence since 2005.
