West Bengal CM issues directives to woo tribals in areas dominated by Maoists

Kolkata, Dec 20 : With Maoists’ influence growing in the tribal areas of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts, the state government has decided to expedite the implementation of the welfare schemes to improve the condition of tribals and to win their confidence.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday convened a high-level meeting and discussed the measures to be adopted.

The government has decided to send Minister for Backward Class Welfare Jogesh Burman and Minister for Panchayat and Rural Development Suryakanta Mishra to visit the districts from January 10 and supervise the implementation of all the poverty alleviation programmes launched there.

They have also been asked to submit a report to the chief minister.

Stating that the improvement of the condition of the people in these three districts will be the government’s priority now, Bhattacharjee has also instructed the chief secretary to issue a notification to all the SDOs to monitor the welfare programmes for the people belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes.

Other decision taken at the meeting included quick disbursement of scholarhips among students, more efficient disbursement of old-age pension, building of hostels for the students and others.

“We had a very fruitful meeting and the chief minister gave us instructions on how to improve the condition of the people,” said Burman who today inaugurated the new website of his department.

Express News Service