Rajnath Reviews Maoist Situation in Andhra Pradesh

Vishakhapatnam: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday reviewed the Maoist sitation in Andhra Pradesh and assured the State of all possible help from the Centre.

At a meeting with senior officials, he said Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) situation in the country has declined with the number of violence incidents coming down to 1,088 in 2015. Highlighting the achievements of the security agencies, Singh said the spread of LWE-affected districts declined to 141 in 2015 from 162 districts in 2014. The security agencies and the developmental programmes and policies of the government deserve the credit for this improved scenario, he said. 
The Home Ministry has also approved one extra battalion of BSF to Andhra Pradesh for deployment in Maoist-affected areas. Assuring the state government of speedy clearance of projects, Singh said under the Road Requirement Plan (RRP)-2, the Centre has approved the construction of 1,200 kms of road in Andhra Pradesh out of total 5,400 kms to be constructed across the country.
Ranchi: Four Maoist guerrillas including one female member were killed in gun battle with security forces in the outskirts of Ranchi. The gun battle began in Nawadih jungle on Thursday night and ended early Friday morning. Two security personnel were injured. Police recovered one AK-37 gun and an INSAS rifle from the victims. Raipur: A suspected Naxal was gunned down in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Kondagaon district on Thursday. The skirmish occurred in the forests of Heeramandal under Kondagaon police station limits between a team of District Reserve Group (DRG) and rebels, Inspector General of Police Bastar Range SRP Kalluri said. The gun fight lasted for about 30 minutes, following which the Naxals fled to deep forests on finding security forces zeroing-in on them, he said. Later during search, the body of a cadre clad in 'uniform', two muzzle loading guns and commodities of daily use were recovered from the spot, the IG said. The slained Maoist was identified as Baldev alias Janesh.