Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said the government will adopt a balanced approach to resolve the Left Wing Extremism problem in the country. Mr. Singh reviewed security situation in Left wing extremism affected areas with Chief Secretaries and DGPs of concerned states at a meeting in New Delhi.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, he ruled out talks with the Left wing extremists. He told top civil and police brass of the affected States that enough funds will be provided to equip and modernise their police forces and asked them to give a befitting reply to Maoists. He said the Centre will consider giving special allowances to security personnel and officials posted in the affected areas. Mr Singh said the Ministry will fully fund formation of special forces on the lines of the elite anti- Naxal force Greyhounds of Andhra Pradesh and initially such squads will come up in Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Bihar. Mr Singh asked the states to appoint young, bold and courageous district magistrates and superintendents of police in affected districts to provide better administration and good leadership. Mr Singh mentioned that the projects relating to road connectivity and telecom connectivity through mobile towers should be taken up on a priority basis.

The Minister also asked the State governments to designate their nodal officers for better co-ordination with the Centre and other states on the issue.

A critical appraisal of operational performance of security forces, gaps in coordination between the state police and central paramilitary forces was discussed in the meeting. Performance of state governments in centrally-sponsored projects and availability of infrastructure in camps of central paramilitary forces also came up for review.

The meeting was attended by Chief Secretaries and DGPs of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.