GUWAHATI, May 28 � The Assam Government has requested the Centre to declare nine districts of the State as Left Wing Extremism affected districts, while, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has directed all the states to keep close watch on the activities of the suspected sympathizers of the Maoist rebels.
Highly placed official sources told The Assam Tribune that the State Government had earlier sent a proposal to declare the districts of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia as Left Wing Extremism affected districts but only yesterday, a fresh proposal has been submitted to the Centre to declare nine districts with Left Wing extremism affected.
Sources revealed that as per the proposal, the State Government said that the districts of Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Golaghat, Sivasagar, Goalpara, Cachar and Karimganj should be declared as Left Wing Extremism affected districts. The proposal said that 35 police station areas of the nine districts are affected by Maoist activities. Those include, eight police station areas in Tinsukia, five in Dibrugarh, four in Golaghat, four in Dhemaji, one in Sivasagar, one in Lakhimpur, three in Goalpara, five in Cachar and four in Karimganj district. These nine districts have altogether 103 police stations.
Sources said that if the districts are declared as Left Wing extremism affected districts, the Government of India, through the Ministry of Home Affairs, would provide special infrastructure development fund of Rs 10 crore a year for each district.