Kamal Nath urges Centre to provide 4G mobile connectivity in Madhya Pradesh's Naxal-affected Balaghat, Mandla

New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Monday urged the Centre to provide 4G mobile connectivity in two Naxal-affected districts of the state for better sharing and collection of information.

File image of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath. ANI

Nath made the request during a day-long conference to review the Left Wing Extremism situation and it was chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.

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The chief minister pointed out that poor connectivity was the main issue hampering collection and sharing of information in LWE-affected Balaghat and Mandla districts.

He requested the central government to make provisions for providing 4G mobile connectivity in the two districts, a senior official said quoting Nath's presentation at the conference.

The official said Nath informed that the communication network in these Maoist-affected areas was heavily dependent on police wireless systems, and due to poor telephone and mobile network coverage, 50 per cent of tribal blocks have only 2G connectivity.

The chief minister also requested for sanctioning of funds worth Rs 33.74 crore for construction of two roads and a bridge in Balaghat, and two roads and three bridges in Mandla.

He informed that the Madhya Pradesh government had created a special police force called 'Hawk' in 2000 and has initiated development policies in the state to counter the Naxal problem.

"This has resulted in limiting Naxalism in only two districts of the state which border Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. The state police has been instructed to coordinate with their counterparts, and greater emphasis has been put on modernisation of the police force," Nath said.

The police force has been equipped with modern gadgets such as trackers, GPS, drones, trap cameras, body protective armour and jungle terrain vehicles, the chief minister said. The state aims to have more financial inclusion of locals and tribals residing in the two LWE-affected districts, Nath said.

In his presentation, the chief minister said at present, there are 6.6 bank branches per lakh of population in Balaghat and Mandla against the state's average of 10.58. To deal with such a situation, the state government has launched a financial literacy campaign, he added.

Chief ministers of 11 states participated in the conference.